Twist Of Fate
by Dajira
Summary: A AU Vegeta/Juuhachi-gou fic. In the final battle with Buu, thanks to Vegeta's plan, Buu meets his end, and the universe is safe once again. *Epilogue posted!*
1. Beginning in a Ending

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Warnings: Listen, this is a AU Vegeta/Juuhachi-gou fic, which means the two will be intimately involved with each other. There will be adult situations, but nothing graphic. Plus, my original character Koji will take the place of Mirai Trunks and Chibi Trunks because Trunks doesn't exist in this story. Though Mirai Koji will have Mirai Trunks' personality and Chibi Koji will have Chibi Trunks'. So, if the idea of the Saiyajin Prince and the Jinzouningen (who's really just a tweaked up human and not really a robot) together seriously bothers you, then just don't read it.** **But for the ones who are all for it, enjoy! On to the story now...**

**Chapter One: Beginning in a Ending**

* * *

All was quiet at the Lookout. Mr. Popo stood out on the courtyard alongside the new God of Earth, Dende, quietly observing the group of visitors they had received on that late afternoon a short while ago. After their long and grueling battle against Doctor Gero's ultimate Jinzouningen, Cell, it came as no surprise to the djinn that the Z-Warriors would show up; in fact, he had been expecting them. While the evil Cell had been defeated, their victory hadn't come without casualties; during the battle, Son Goku had once again lost his life. The heroic Saiyajin had met his end this time when he teleported himself and a extremely desperate, devolved Cell off the planet before he could finish self-destructing. So he had known they would come to use the new Dragonballs and wish for Goku's life to be restored, but what he hadn't predicted was for the Warriors to bring along the Jinzouningen, Juuhachi-gou, with them, too. To be honest, it left him feeling pretty discomfited.

He wasn't the only one.

Not everyone had been fond of Kuririn's decision to save Juuhachi-gou and bring her back to God's Palace with them to recover. Especially Vegeta; the prince had told him she-well, rather _it_, to be more precise- should be destroyed in case Cell ever returned. When Kuririn had adamantly refused, Vegeta had disgustedly back down, calling him pathetic. He would hate to hear what Vegeta (or any of the others for that matter) would think of him if he were to find out the real reason he saved Juuhachi-gou was because he was in love with her.

Even now he was keeping vigil over the person who was supposed to be his enemy, staring down at the unmoving woman with a look of utter concern; he was the only one who appeared genuinely worried about her well-being. Standing a short distance away was Vegeta's mysterious red-haired son from the future, Koji; thanks to Dende's healing powers, he was recovering nicely after suffering a near-fatal attack from a revived and powered-up Perfect Cell. Odd mixed emotions played across his young, harsh face as he regarded the woman, running through a quick gamut of fury to hatred to confusion to...regret? If any of the others had noticed, except for one other person there, they wouldn't have understood the reason why he looked at her with such conflict.

Gohan was surveying the lifeless cyborg with a look of someone waiting for something to happen already and see how things played out from there. Dende was regarding the unconscious woman with an expression unnaturally solemn for someone of his young age, jumbled in with a little pity and uneasiness. As for the rest of the Senshi, however, they were fixing her with equally distrustful, cold looks; they were expecting the Jinzouningen to wake up at any second and start attacking them, which they were well prepared for. But Juuhachi-gou continued to remain as motionless as a statue, showing no signs of awakening anytime soon.

Then, within the next few moments, cat-tilted eyes flew wide open, and Juuhachi-gou sat up lightning quick, gasping. Kuririn, Dende, and Koji had quickly backpedaled a few steps away from her, caught completely off guard by her sudden recovery. Even the ones who had been preparing themselves for this had been started a bit. Everybody braced themselves, waiting to see what the recovered Juuhachi-gou would do now.

Juuhachi-gou didn't even realize that she was sitting amid her enemies at first, too busy staring down at herself in complete bewilderment. What was going on here? The last thing she remembered was finally being caught by Cell and being absorbed through his tail...And now she was somehow free again! But how exactly did she escape?

Suddenly, the artificial human finally became aware she wasn't alone, and she froze in place. Looking up, upon seeing the Z-Senshi staring back at her, her eyes widened in a mix of surprise and panic. Then her face transmuted into fierce defiance. If they were trying to kill her, she wasn't about to go out without a fight. With a low, determined growl, she quickly and smoothly rolled over onto her feet, clenching her fists and taking a fighting pose. All the Warriors, except for Kuririn, fell back into battle stances as well, and Popo stood protectively in front of a now nervous-looking Dende.

Looking on in concern, Kuririn knew he had to do something quick before things got out of hand.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Waving his hands imploringly, Kuririn slowly approached her like one would a wild, dangerous animal. In a soothing tone, he said, "Chill, we're not going to hurt you."

Over where he stood by himself against one of the pillars, Vegeta frowned contemptuously at the bald human._ *Speak for yourself, you pitiful fool. You may not have the balls to dismantle that machine, but I __**do**__ and __**will**__ just as soon as it gives me a reason to.*_

Juuhachi-gou didn't seem too convinced by Kuririn's words. She gave him the same cold, suspicious glare she was giving everyone else.

"Where the hell am I?" she demanded, speaking for the first time.

"You're at God's Palace," Kuririn explained. "Don't worry, you're safe now. Cell won't be bothering you or anyone else anymore!"

"What do you mean?" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking mystified.

"Cell was destroyed by Gohan here, though prior to doing so he managed to free you," Piccolo told her. "You owe him a great deal of gratitude, and Kuririn as well."

"Oh, um...I didn't do nearly as much as Gohan here did," Kuririn replied, blushing.

"Yeah, that's right! Gohan has become EXTREMELY strong!" Yamucha emphasized while putting quite the distance between himself and Juuhachi-gou, still not trusting the cyborg. "So, you better not try anything, or you'll be sorry!"

"I don't think she can hear you back there," Tienshinhan called, smirking wryly. "Why don't you come closer?"

"Shut up!"

Juuhachi-gou paid no attention to them. She was still too thunderstruck over hearing that Cell-even with her and her brother's powers added to his- met his end at the hands of Gohan. The child of Son Goku had been the last person she had expected to accomplish such a feat; she was surprised that Goku himself wasn't the one who did it, since Gero had always considered him to be the most dangerous man alive. Juuhachi-gou thought back to when she and her brother had individually tried to take on Cell and how impotent they had been against the bio-android, then how Juuroku-gou was shown to be on par with Cell before he too became no match for him after Juunana-gou was absorbed. The idea that someone so young as Gohan could do what the three of them weren't able to do just left her utterly stunned and boggled.

Speaking of Juunana-gou and Juuroku-gou-just where exactly were they now? Was Gohan able to free her brother, too? What about Juuroku-gou? The last thing she remembered was him telling her to go with Kuririn when Cell had found them. Had Cell finally finished him off after he got her? Juuhachi-gou shivered inwardly at the thought. Just thinking about the nature-loving android being destroyed at Cell's hands- with the very same power he had gotten from absorbing her- made her feel something she had never felt since she was turned into a Jinzouningen: _guilt_.

Juuhachi-gou started to ask the Warriors what had happened to her brother and her comrade, but then for the first time since she awoke, she noticed Vegeta on the other side of the courtyard. Hot fury instantly swelled up within her as the sight of him made her remember how he had practically threw her into Cell's greedy paws on a silver platter-just because he wanted Cell to be more of a challenge to him. Sacrificing her like that...it was unforgivable!

"You!" she screamed wrathfully, glowering furiously at the Saiyajin, fists clenching. "Bastard...DIIIEEEE!"

Before Vegeta or any of the others could even register her move, Juuhachi-gou crossed the gap between the two of them at a speed faster than an eyeblink and rammed her right fist viciously into the Saiyajin's face. The brunt of the punch sent him smashing into the pillar he had been standing in front of, and next into the pillar behind that one. Juuhachi-gou quickly chased after him; she would not hold back on him like she did in their last fight.

Surprised by what had just happened, the others immediately followed after the action. As soon they arrived on the scene, Vegeta had morphed into Super Saiyajin. Two of the bystanders thought this was bad. Now that he was transformed, they knew that the prince was massively stronger than when he and Juuhachi-gou last fought after training intensely in the Room of Spirit and Time twice. He could effortlessly kill her now...which was why Koji had to stop them.

He couldn't let his father kill her. In spite of his feelings towards the Jinzouningen, he was actually starting to think that this world's Juuhachi-gou deserved to live. If she was half the terror her future self was back in his own era, she would have started firing at them all as soon as she woke up. Besides that, she was...

It had seemed that Vegeta had grown fed-up with the scuffle, as he easily avoided another punch and caught her with a side kick. Juuhachi-gou nearly collided into the side of the palace wall, but her cybernetic reflexes kicked in at the last moment and she stopped herself. Regaining her composure, Juuhachi-gou gazed up at Vegeta and quickly found herself slipping into a state of astonishment. Back when she and Vegeta had first fought on the mountain highway, nothing about him as a Super Saiyajin had impressed her. However, as he stood before her now, grinning callously at her with both his mouth and those cold, turquoise eyes of his, that golden nimbus surrounding his impressive form, she started to get the feeling that things wouldn't be so easy for her as it had been last time. She was also suddenly reminded of the easy time Vegeta had had while fighting Semi-Perfect Cell, something she hadn't been able to do. But her pride refused to let her show that she was actually worried, and she glared back at the prince in rebellious anger.

Thrusting a hand forward and folding his thumb across his palm, Vegeta gathered power for a Big Bang Attack. "Playtime is over with, you puppet. Now I'll send you to the trash heap where you belong!"

It seemed Vegeta was about to do just that...then Koji appeared between them out of nowhere and transformed into a Super Saiyajin. Both Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou stared at the warrior from the future in equal bewilderment.

"Koji! What in the hell do you think you're doing?" Vegeta demanded. "Move out of the way!"

"I won't, Tousan!" Koji answered defiantly, both arms stretched out, looking very determined

*_Why? Why is he trying to protect me?* _Juuhachi-gou wondered, frowning at the back of the young man's head in confusion. And didn't he just call Vegeta his father? So why wasn't he encouraging Vegeta to destroy her instead?

Below, some of the others were wondering the same thing, especially considering Koji's history with Juuhachi-gou back in his world. Although, only one knew the reason behind Koji's sudden protectiveness of the Jinzouningen. He watched the whole scene in quiet amusement.

"Moron, step aside!" Vegeta ordered. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but either you move or you can suffer the same fate as that mannequin behind you!" A sphere of ki still floated before his gloved hand, just waiting to be unleashed onto its target.

Koji refused to budge and closed his eyes, standing firm. He knew he had better think of something quick, however. Vegeta looked like he might actually go through with his words if he didn't. *_Well, there might be one way out of this for the both of us, and it might just work...I hope.*_

When he reopened his eyes, the engimatic warrior from the future shouted something very unexpected:

"Father, I won't allow you to kill Mother!"

"WHAT?" Came the general outcry of shock.

On either side of Koji, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou stared at him in equal disbelief. Vegeta was so taken aback by this, that he even reabsorbed the energy back into his body.

_*Well, that sure changed the subject all right,* _Koji thought dryly.

"W-w-wait just a minute!" Juuhachi-gou spluttered in furious denial behind him, shaking her head. "Did you acutally just...call me your Mother?"

Before he could answer, Vegeta bridged the space between them in an instant to unceremoniously grab him by the collar, hoisting him even higher into the air. Koji stared back at his father half-sheepishly.

"Is this some kind of sick joke of yours, boy?" Vegeta snarled in the teenager's face, giving him a sharp shake. "If so, I am not amused!"

"No, it's no joke," Koji replied seriously, shaking his head. He glanced at Juuhachi-gou quickly, then looked his father directly in the eye. "It's true...Juuhachi-gou is my Mother, just as you are my Father. That time when you asked to know Mother's identity while we were training inside the Seishin, this is why I couldn't tell you."

Vegeta glared at the youth for a time, and then glared over at the alleged mother, who looked very confounded.

"N-no way!" Yamucha said in disbelief.

"All this time the mystery mother was actually one of the Artificial Humans!" Tienshinhan said, just as stunned. "But now that I think about it, I have always thought Koji-san favored them."

"You know what, so did I," Yamucha admitted. "Now we know why."

"I can't believe this!" Gohan exclaimed.

As the others discussed this eye-opening shocker, they never noticed the distraught expression decorating Kuririn's face. He gaped up at Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou and Koji with his mouth hanging open. *_Just my dumb luck. I would have to fall for the mother of Vegeta's son!*_

"So, he finally confesses," Piccolo remarked, smirking.

"Eh?" Gohan replied, him and the others turning to his mentor with expressions of surprise. "Did you know about this, Piccolo-san?"

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Yamucha asked, almost accusingly.

"Because if I had, Koji's existence in this time would have been affected." Piccolo frowned. As an afterthought, he added, "If it hasn't already has been..."

"That's it! If you want to continue breathing," Vegeta barked, "you had better start explaining yourself! And start fast!" Roughly releasing Koji, he folded his arms and impatiently waited for the young man to begin. On the other side of Koji, Juuhachi-gou looked just as impatient to hear what he was about to say.

After regaining his aplomb, Koji took a deep breath to rally himself. He knew he certainly had no choice but to come clean now. "Okay, this is the whole truth...In my world, you, Father, and Juuhachi-gou, Mother, are my parents. I'm not really clear as to how that happen, but I was told that you two had met before Juuhachi-gou- _Kaasan _and Juunana-_Ojisan_ were both found by Dr. Gero and turned into Jinzouningen. Shortly afterwards, I was born. This was supposed to have already happened, but due to both me and Cell traveling through time from different eras, the timelines have been completely altered."

Koji then paused for a brief moment in his tale to look meaningfully at Juuhachi-gou. "After you had me, you took me to Capsule Corp to leave me with Father. I'm not really sure why you did it, but I think the reason you did that was because you'd just been turned into a Jinzouningen and didn't trust yourself around me, and because of that you thought I'd be safer with him. Then, a year and six months later, after Son Goku-san originally died from his heart virus, you and Juunana-gou started your assault on the world. The two of you not only killed half of the Earth's population, but also all of them below, including father. That is why I'm here today." As Koji's tale came to a close, his blue eyes landed on his father, who had quickly hid his shock at hearing about his own death again by sliding his furious expression back on like a mask.

No one spoke a word for some time, fully digesting what Koji had told them. Secretly, both Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou looked visibly infuriated to hear that they were actually lovers in another time, and that this young man standing in front of them was a result of their relationship. The silence continued to drag on out for several long moments.

Then Juuhachi-gou finally spoke first.

"What a bunch of worthless babble!" she said, her voice colder than ice. Juuhachi-gou stabbed a finger in Vegeta's direction, while still scowling at Koji. "Time traveling? Me w-with that old man! No way!"

"Old man!" Vegeta barked, his anger blazing.

Juuhachi-gou ignored him, her eyes still on their son. "I don't even know why you bothered to tell us all of that. Did you think we could all become one big happy family afterwards? Well, forget it! I'm out of here!"

So saying, she turned around and flew away at top speed, without so much as a second look back. Everyone watched her go until she vanished from all of their sights.

"Should we really let her go off like that?" Tienshinhan wondered.

"Yeah, you know the destruction she could cause if she wants to start terrorizing the planet!" Yamucha added.

"At the level the Saiyajin and me are on now, that's something we don't have to worry about," Piccolo replied with his usual confidence. "Somehow, though, I think terrorizing the planet is the farthest thing from her mind right now."

"Hey guys, what we wasting time for?" Gohan said with sudden enthusiasm. "Let's hurry up and summon Shenron. I want to wish back Dad now!"

* * *

When Juuhachi-gou had left the God's Palace, it was with no fixed destination in mind; she just wanted to get away from the Senshi and that boy who claimed to be her and Vegeta's son from the future as fast as she could. She found the mere thought of her and Vegeta together that much more revolting than being trapped inside Cell's innards!

She was currently perched on a log out in the middle of a glen of the forest she had come across a while ago. After everything that's happened to her, the cyborged woman really needed a place to clear her head, and this seemed like the perfect place. Juuhachi-gou knew she should be worrying about the whereabouts of both Juunana-gou and Juuroku-gou and be out there searching for them, but right now she really wanted to be alone. Besides, this might be for the best right now as she didn't want either of them to find out about her and Vegeta and their supposed son. While she knew Juuroku-gou would just take it stoically, she knew that her brother would laugh his head off about it until she had to smack him to make him shut up.

Juuhachi-gou really didn't want to believe what Koji had told her. She really didn't want to be his mother, especially considering who his father is. Whether she liked it or not, the proof was all there, unfortunately, and his story did seem to check out. It would explain why she had no data files on him, and why he shared that faint resemblance to Juunana-gou she had noticed when she first laid eyes on him...It was also why whenever she would be around him, she had always had this feeling as if he should somehow know him. But where did that red hair come from? Neither her nor Vegeta had red hair. From every Saiyajin she had ever seen, when they weren't transformed, they all commonly had black hair.

That still didn't explain the red hair, though. A thought came to her. Maybe his hair coloring came from someone in either her family or Vegeta's family, which was very plausible. However, after being turned into a Jinzouningen, she had no memories of her family other than Juunana-gou being her twin brother, so she couldn't remember being related to anyone with red hair. Could he have gotten it from Vegeta's side? Well, rather he had or not, she definitely wasn't about to go ask him about it!

Juuhachi-gou shook her head in disgusted annoyance. She just couldn't believe any of this, or that she was thinking about this in the first place, *_Honestly! What the hell could any version of me possibly see in any version of Vegeta, of all people? That Juuhachi-gou was obviously malfunctioning!*_

Suddenly, her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a odd noise, emanating somewhere in another part of the forest. Looking around, she impassively watched a yellow object slowly drop out of the evening sky and touch down on the far side of the forest.

_*Hm, what do we have here?* _

Juuhachi-gou stood. While what she just saw was probably nothing of real interest, going to see what it was would be better than just sitting there and driving herself insane thinking about her and Vegeta and their son. Quickly ridding the thought of them from her mind, she walked off to check out the forest's new visitor.

On the other side of the forest, the yellow object Juuhachi-gou had seen had really been a aircar; tattooed to its side in bold black and white coloring was the Capsule Corp. insignia and the no.16 beside it. A soft whine issued from the air vehicle as it made a smooth landing in the center of a small clearing. The aircar was turned off, and a moment later its only occupant stepped outside. She looked to be in her early thirties, quite attractive with her silky, aqua hair and her expressive, intelligent, blue eyes. She was dressed in a simple attire of a shirt and jeans, though enhanced by a stylish blue jacket that had the Capsule Corp. logo printed on the back.

"Well, I've finally made it," Bulma said. She turned her head this way and that, trying to get a good look at the general vicinity. Like in any forest, there seemed be nothing but trees and more trees, with a few wild plants peaking out the ground here and there to break up the sameness. Though, she didn't come all the way out there just to look at the scenery. Speaking of wild plants, the reason she had come to this forest on the outskirts of town in the first place was because her father was doing some an experiment of some kind and needed a wild flower that bloomed in this very forest at this time of the year. When she asked her father why he was suddenly doing experiments with plants instead of machinery like he's been doing since she was a just a little girl, he simply said he just wanted to try something different. She just never knew what that father of hers would think of next.

She subsequently encapsulated her vehicle and then slipped the capsule inside her pocket. Before she started her little excursion into the forest, Bulma glanced up towards the sun, noticing how low it was hanging in the bluish-gold sky. *_I better be quick about this, Yamucha would just worry to death. He's become so protective of me ever since we got married.*_

Bulma inwardly giggled at the thought of her husband. It still shocked her to this day (and also most of their friends) that after all the times the two of them had broken up only to make back up again, they had somehow wound up marrying each other after all. She guessed being dead really does change a guy's perspective. After being wished back to life, Yamucha had told her he was a whole new man and that she wouldn't have to be suspicious of him seeing other women, because he knew she was the girl for him. What other girl but her would travel deep into outer space-moreover, to a planet while it was in the middle of being taken over by a horrible galactic warlord and his henchmen-just to bring him back to life? Shortly before all the Zed Warriors began their training for the coming of the Jinzouningen, he had taken her to a chapel and the two were wedded in private, with both her parents and Puar present. While it may not have been that big, fancy wedding she had always dreamed of having ever since she was a little girl, she was just happy to be married in the first place.

The daughter of the Capsule Corporation President soon struck out down a forest trail in search of the flower. It was past experiences that made her predict that she might have to walk a length, which was why she had wisely picked out a pair of shoes that would be appropriate for this kind of thing. So focused on her task, Bulma had paid no attention to the time to how much time had pass since she started, however, in the next moment she did find herself taking notice of a faint yet unsettling sound that made her freeze in her tracks.

Bulma looked around, frowning in a mix of puzzlement and unease. She knew she had just heard something. It sounded like a soft grunt...more than one actually. She stayed in the single spot for a few moments, looking this way and that, listening to see if she would hear the noise again. She heard nothing.

"M-Must be my imagination," she thought, shrugging her shoulders. Though, her instincts were telling her to pick up her pace instead of walking leisurely as she had been doing. Sure, her father may have told her that this was where the plant he needed resided, but he hadn't bother to tell her what other residents this forest may have.

Some time later, Bulma was now very certain that her imagination had been trying to get to her earlier when she had finally found the plant right beside a lake. Yes, that's it, her imagination was trying to play tricks on her just because she was in a forest all alone. A nostalgic smile touched her lips and she suddenly found herself recalling the old days when her and a young Goku had been on their Dragonball Hunts, which had led them through all kinds of wilderness. Her and her wild friend had had some pretty crazy adventures back then, and it was because of meeting him that she had also met Yamucha.

Her cheerful expression melted into saddness as her mind lingered on Goku. She couldn't believe it, he was really gone for good this time. When Goku and the rest of the guys had first gone into that battle with Cell, she had initally handpicked him to be the one to take Cell down and save the day like he usually did. She never really expected it to be Gohan, nor had she expect Goku to die yet again. It was going to be tough going through life without him, especially for Chichi and Gohan, but she knew they would manage, and so would she. Hopefully they would see him again some day. Though as much as Bulma loved him like a little brother, she really hoped that she wouldn't see him _too _soon.

Thinking she had better turn her thoughts back onto her work before the waterworks start again, Bulma pushed the subject of Goku far away from her mind. Reaching down, she carefully pulled the plant from out of the ground.

"It took me a while to find it, but this was pretty easy," Bulma said, looking pleased with herself. "Maybe I should do things like this all the time?" Bulma actually considered the question. She shook her head, her mouth quirking into a wild grin. "Nah, it would be too boring if I always did simple stuff like this!"

Standing back up, Bulma took a second to stretch. Glancing upward, she saw that the sun was barely visible over the horizon now, and that the sky was caught between the ending of the evening and the beginning of night.

"Wow, I didn't notice that it was this late," Bulma said in surprise. She also couldn't help but to notice that the forest had darkened considerably since when she first arrived. She fought the urge to gulp. "I'd better get going."

Bulma had turned so she could take the capsule out of her other pocket and bring her aircraft back out. Then she looked out in front, and what she saw made her eyes widened in apprehension and her normally fair skin pale. In front of her, a small pack of wolves were neatly lined up, as if they'd all been politely waiting on her to finish what she was doing and mostly likely rip her into shreds for their dinner afterwards; at the middle, the pack separated, allowing a wolf bigger than all the others-obviously the leader- to stroll out in front. The wolves then began to move slowly towards her, growling ravenously.

"Um...nice doggies-I mean wolves!" she said, holding her hands up imploringly while slowly backing up towards the lake. She stopped when she felt the water touching the back of her shoes. The wolves continued to come forward, growling and regarding the beautiful genius like a delicious piece of meat. Then they all lunged at her simultaneously.

Bulma let out a scream of mortal terror and closed her eyes, waiting for her untimely death. As she stood there waiting, she could've sworn she heard collective whimpers, accompanied with a bright flash of light in front of her, but she thought it was just Heaven preparing to take her. Then strangely, the scent of burnt meat permeated her nose and made her fear that she might be going the other way after those ravenous wolves got through with her; she knew she wasn't the most innocent girl around, but certainly she hasn't done anything to warrant going down there!...Right?

Time passed and when she hadn't felt sharp teeth piercing into her flesh, tearing her limb from limb, she cautiously reopened her eyes. She gasped in shock. Before her on the ground, lay the charred remains of her would-be killers.

"Whuh-Wha...the?" she murmured, puzzled by the scene before her.

A hand descended on Bulma's right shoulder. Turning around at once, she shrieked and clumsily fell over on the ground when she saw the blue-eyed, blonde-haired woman standing behind her.

"Don't do that!" Bulma exclaimed indignantly. Already on an emotional overload from yet another near-death experience, strange women appearing out of nowhere didn't exactly make things better.

Juuhachi-gou lifted an eyebrow at the other woman.

"Are you all right?" she asked tonelessly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You just really surprised me is all, " Bulma answered, as she pulled herself back up to her feet. She brushed the dirt off her clothes, and then looked back up at the other woman curiously. "Hey, were you the one who just saved me?" She beamed gratefully. "Thank you so much! For a moment there I really thought I was a goner. Oh! Where are my manners? My name is-"

"Bulma Briefs, friend to Son Goku. I know who you are," Juuhachi-gou replied matter-of-factly, then she spun around on her heel and started walking away. She left the blue-haired woman speechless and a bit bewildered.

How did this mysterious woman know who she was without actually making each other's acquaintance previously? How did she know that Goku was her friend? And yet, at the same time, why did the woman also seem eerily familiar to her for some reason?

"Hey, where are you heading off to?" Bulma asked in spite of herself.

The question made Juuhachi-gou halt in her footsteps, and she turned halfway around to toss Bulma a narrow look. "Why does it matter to you?"

"Um..." Bulma faltered at the sharp tone. To herself she said, _*Sheesh! She's a touchy sort, isn't she?* _

Seeing that she had gotten Bulma too nervous to speak, Juuhachi-gou rolled her eyes and turned completely around to face the other woman.

"If you must know...I'm not really sure myself. I don't have any place to go or know anyone..." Subsequently, Juuhachi-gou found herself wondering why she just told her all of that.

Bulma gave Juuhachi-gou a look of pity. She felt like she should do something for the other woman. If it wasn't for her, she'd be making her way down all of those wolves' digestive systems right about now. _*And do something for her I shall!* _Bulma thought gleefully after getting struck with inspiration.

"Well, you've got a friend now," Bulma told her jovially. "I'd be more than happy to let you stay at my place."

Juuhachi-gou stared wide-eyed at the human woman; her offer was very much unexpected. "Are you serious?"

She couldn't believe it. This woman was actually willing to take her into her home? Should she accept? The suspicious part of her wondered if maybe this was some sort of trap. After all, Juuhachi-gou knew the blue-haired woman had a link to her enemies the Z-Warriors, though she didn't exactly sense any dishonesty in Bulma's voice. Also, even if she was a Jinzouningen, she was still a woman who preferred to sleep in a real bed over some dirty ground.

Eventually, Juuhachi-gou answered, "All right, I accept your offer...if you sure it's okay."

"Of course," Bulma replied assuringly. "So, it's settled, then." Something then occurred to the blue-haired woman. "Say, you never did tell me your name. I just have to know the name of the person who saved my life."

The question brought a positively wicked smile to Juuhachi-gou's face. She wondered if Bulma's offer would still hold after she told the other woman her moniker.

"It's Juuhachi-gou...friend."

Bulma gasped and gaped.

* * *

It was dinnertime back at Capsule Corporation and right at this moment Mrs. Briefs was serving her family and their two houseguests dinner. However, one member at the dinner table was more concerned about a certain blue-haired wife of his to think about eating.

"It's getting really late," Yamucha said as he glanced up at the clock. "Mrs. Briefs, did Bulma tell you where she was going before she left?"

"Now Yamucha, dear, I've told you before to call me 'Mother'," said the always-cheerful woman, as she sat down at the table between him and her husband.

"I sent Bulma to do an errand for me," Dr. Briefs said. "So don't worry, son, I'm sure she'll come strolling in at any moment."

On the other side of the table, Vegeta watched Yamucha in pure disdain. _*Sentimental loser. You wouldn't catch me worrying myself over some woman...*_ Vegeta's thoughts were interrupted when Bulma suddenly came ambling into the kitchen, followed behind by someone quite unexpected. The scowl that was already on Vegeta's face deepened.

"What the hell is that THING doing here!" he bellowed, standing out of his chair and glaring at Bulma's new guest with the utmost abhorrence.

"Ji-Juuhachi-gou!" Yamucha exclaimed, turning pale.

*_Mother!* _Koji thought, staring at her in shock.

Juuhachi-gou's brows knitted together into a cold frown at the sight of the prince, unconsciously closing her hands into fists. She looked back at Bulma.

"You never said anything about HIM staying here with you as well!" she said in an accusatory tone.

Bulma quailed as she found herself trapped between the angry stares of Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou; she wanted to be somewhere faraway from Capsule Corporation right now, off the planet even. Koji stared at the scene anxiously, dreading that another fight might break out between his parents. Both Dr. and Mrs. Briefs watched the scene in confusion, while Yamucha did so with a mix of both confusion and uneasiness from having Juuhachi-gou there in their house.

"Oh, yeah. I remember now," Bulma said, laughing nervously. "I sort of forgot about Yamucha telling me you two getting into a fight a while back. Oops, sorry."

"But Bulma, why exactly is she here?" Yamucha asked his wife, looking towards Juuhachi-gou warily.

"Well, while I was out I ran into a little bit of trouble with a pack of wolves," Bulma explained. "Lucky for me, Juuhachi-gou-san had been at the right place at the right time. And as thanks, I invited her to stay here because she had no place to go."

"On second thought," Juuhachi-gou spoke up, while still trading death glares with Vegeta. "I think I had better decline your offer. Vegeta and I just wouldn't be able to live together under the same roof for half an hour, let alone one whole day."

"Nonsense!" Bulma argued. "Now look, Juuhachi-gou-san, I told you that you could stay here, and I meant it!" Glaring deliberately at Vegeta, she added, "And _some _people will just have to deal with it!" So adamant behind her decision, Bulma didn't flinch at all at the stormy look Vegeta levelled on her.

"Looks like we're going to be having another houseguest, dear," Dr. Briefs said to his wife, taking everything in stride like usual. "Well, I certainly don't mind. The more the merrier, I always say! We have do _plenty _of room."

"Welcome to our lovely household...Juuhachi-gou is it?" Mrs. Briefs said affably and hospitably, grabbing Juuhachi-gou's hand and pumping it vigorously.

"Um, yes..." Juuhachi-gou replied, feeling very uncomfortable as the older woman shook her hand. She wasn't used to being greeted with such kindness. In another uncharacteristic streak of politeness, she added, "Thank you for letting me stay."

"Oh, no problem at all!" Mrs. Briefs said, finally letting Juuhachi-gou's hand go, much to the younger woman's relief.

As she glanced around, she found Koji waching her. Realizing that he'd been caught staring, he blushed and quickly looked the other way. Juuhachi-gou's eyes narrowed on him briefly, before she ignored him altogether.

Not far away, Yamucha gave Juuhachi-gou an evaluating look. Naturally, Yamucha wasn't all that keen on having to be living under the same roof with someone who had been created to be a killing machine. Then again, they had Vegeta living with them, and his track record was far from great. As for Juuhachi-gou- though he had heard how evil and ruthless she'd been in Koji's timeline, he would admit he hadn't really seen or heard of this timeline's Juuhachi-gou doing anything terrible, other than breaking Vegeta's arm. Though in his mind, he actually wouldn't qualify that as being _too_ terrible. Plus, she did save his wife's life. So, maybe she wasn't as bad as she was made to be, and ironically enough, he could actually relate to that. And like himself, he thought Juuhachi-gou did deserve the same chance to show everyone that she wasn't what people thought her to be like he got to.

Vegeta was obviously not thrilled by this prospect. So him, the artificial woman, and the seed of their future selves were actually living in the same household. As the warrior sat back down in his chair, seething, he thought it was pretty official for him now...he was in Hell. Again.

"So, that's what you do all day?" he asked Bulma disdainfully. "Go out and pick up every stray and bring it back here?"

Bulma scowled back at him. "If I remember correctly, YOU were a stray as well before I invited you here. So zip it!" As Bulma then turned back to Juuhachi-gou, her expression defrosted into a friendly mask. "Come with me Juuhachi-gou-san, let me show you your room."

"While you're doing that, I'll set a plate at the table for our new guest," Mrs. Briefs volunteered.

"No, thanks. I'm not really hungry," Juuhachi-gou told her, while following Bulma out of the kitchen. She was surprised by herself again at the politeness in her voice. It had been so long since she's been polite to somebody, and thanks to Dr. Gero she couldn't remember the last time. But she guessed it was due to the situation she was in that was making her talk like that. They were being extremely kind to her by letting her stay at their home, after all.

Bulma led Juuhachi-gou to the upper levels of Capsule Corporation where the rooms were kept. After a short journey through the compound, Bulma brought her new houseguest to a hallway lined on both sides with many closed doors. Bulma chose the third closed door on the left, and the two women went inside.

The room was very spacious inside, with a real cozy feel to it. There wasn't many decorations, just a bed, a dresser, a full-length mirror in the corner, creme-colored lamps on either side of the bed; a inch away from the mirror was a door that obviously led to a closet, beside that was the window, and back beside Juuhachi-gou's bed there was another door, which Bulma informed her led into a bathroom; there was even a TV. Juuhachi-gou found that she actually liked it. It was strange, but she actually had the feeling she would enjoy it there at Capsule Corporation. Even in spite of a certain other person staying there.

"Well, I'll leave you alone to get settled in, and if you need anything just call," Bulma told her. After Juuhachi-gou gave her a nod in response, Bulma walked out of the room.

Left alone in her new dwellings, Juuhachi-gou walked over to her bed and took a seat on it.

"My very own bed," she murmured, still amazed by the fact that she had a roof over her head now- one that wasn't the roof of some mad scientist's dreary laboratory. "Now, how long has it been since I last slept in one of these things?"

Of course, she couldn't remember that. For as much as she was able to recall, which sadly wasn't a lot, her bed had been the stasis pod designated with her name/number whenever she was forced to "sleep". Juuhachi-gou frowned spitefully at the memory. She used to hate it so much whenever Gero would deactivate her and her brother, treating them like toy robots with his damned controller whenever he thought they were getting out of hand. It had been another cold, hard reminder of what he had turned them into. But it all just made the memory of watching Juunana-gou decapitate their creator even sweeter. Even though she was just happy he was dead period, there was still a part of her that wished it had been her who killed that demented old man.

Juuhachi-gou soon just moved the subject from her mind, lying back in her new bed. The last thing she wanted to think about was Dr. Gero. She instantly breathed a small sigh as her head made contact with the pillows; this was a very nice bed indeed. It had been a long day for the blonde cyborg woman. She decided that tomorrow she would try to find Juunana-gou and Juuroku-gou. Due to _other things _distracting her, she hadn't been able to do it today. Albeit for right now, since she really had nothing else to do, she decided going to sleep in her new bed wasn't all that bad of an idea, even if she really didn't need to. Her eyes closed as she turned over on her side, and she gradually drifted off.

* * *

As soon as he had finished his dinner, Vegeta immediately took refuge inside his gravity chamber in the backyard. Very upset by the current events that had taken place in his life, he really needed to vent out his frustrations right now; otherwise, he feared he might just go insane and start killing everyone in sight.

_*Yeah, and as soon as you do that, you'll have Kakarott's brat to contend with,* _a part of him thought sarcastically.

Vegeta bristled at that thought, his pride stung once again. The idea of him, the Saiyajin Prince, actually having to worry about some little half-breed punk, who was only very fortunate to be born with such incredible power, was absolutely mortifying! It was bitterly ironic, really. It was just a short few days ago when Vegeta had been training hard just to catch up to Kakarott in power, but now he had to catch up to his brat.

Then Vegeta immediately reevaluated that last thought. No, it wasn't Gohan he should be concerned about catching up to, the young boy wasn't his rival. He was just simply himself, although that wasn't to say he had no intention of not trying to reach the power of Gohan's Super Saiyajin Two transformation, if not surpass it, some day. It was Kakarott that was his concern, just like always.

_*But Kakarott is dead, and he isn't coming back this time,* _he reminded himself.

Vegeta paused, his eyes wide as the full impact of those words really hit him hard. His rival was gone for good, and as well as any chance for getting his revenge. Vegeta's face then contorted in rage, his fists clenched. Now he would never pay his rival back for humiliating him in their first fight so many years ago. It just wasn't right. Nor was it right that it was him who transformed first and defeated Furiiza!

_*But it had been my son that had killed off Furiiza and his clan, as he had mine,*_ some part of his brain reminded him. In that one moment, he almost, almost smiled as a quick burst of pride surged through him at that thought.

Though he, along with all the rest of the Saiyajin in Hell, had been rooting for Kakarott to avenge them and kill Furiiza, he still hadn't liked the idea that it had been his rival who destroyed the bastard that had kept him in bondage for most of his life and not him. But now that he knew that it actually been his own son that had killed the changeling, the Prince had thought it was a very suitable end to Furiiza. And in some small way, he felt he'd finally got his vengeance against the dead warlord through his son. After all, the boy was his flesh and blood.

Then that brief moment of pridefulness he felt towards his son had soon ended, however. In its place, disgust return tenfold as his thoughts suddenly turned back to the boy's mother. What made the whole thing so horrid was because of who the boy's mother was. Admittingly, he might not have minded so much had the mother been someone else- preferably one completely made of flesh and blood! Once again, it made him nauseated just thinking about it. Though something else he didn't want to admit to himself, was that he even before Koji had said anything today, he had had a dark suspicion in the back of his mind that his son might be related to Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou in some fashion, however, at the time he had thought it was impossible. It had happened while they were training inside the Room of Spirit and Time. In spite of the hair color and eyes, Koji had almost looked exactly like Juunana-gou when his hair had grown passed his shoulders, with the exception of that naturally fierce Saiyajin expression on his face. But never imagined in his wildest dreams that the resemblance was because Juuhachi-gou was his mother.

_*Why should any of that mattered to me!*_ he asked himself angrily, shaking himself. _*It doesn't __**matter**__ to me! That world's Vegeta was nothing more than a fool, who just jumped in bed with the first random pretty face he saw while on Earth. But I have too much more important things to occupy my time with than concerning myself with any of these fragile female creatures on this planet, or that accursed Jinzouningen!*_

* * *

Later that night, long after the rest of the household had turned in, Koji could be seen sitting at the edge of the bed in the guest room he's slept in since his stay in Past Time, clad in nothing but a pair of pants. Ironically, this was actually the same room he slept in back in his own time. When Bulma had invited him to stay there, he'd already known which room he'd wanted, and his Past adopted mother had no trouble with that.

But now the young warrior couldn't sleep at all. Despite going to bed early enough, the half-Saiyajin seemed unable to close his eyes. When he had tossed and turned in his bed to the point that he got really annoyed, he finally just decided to get up. He was just so restless tonight, and he knew it had to do with the big day he was going to have tomorrow. The next day he would be journeying back to his own world, where he hoped to finally free it from the grips of his borne mother and uncle now that he had a lot more power and training to back him up.

Self-consciously, he ran a hand through his freshly cut hair. Back at home whenever his hair started to grow, Bulma would cut it for him, so he got this world's Bulma to cut it back down to way it was when he first came to the Past. It had came as quite a surprise to her when he told her she was his foster mother back in his world, and then she momentarily got annoyed at him for not telling her that when they first met three years ago instead of allowing her to flirt with him as she had. He had told her about telling the Bulma from his time of their meeting, and that her Future self had gotten a laugh out of it.

Feeling the need to go outside, Koji opened his window and flew on up to the roof. As he sat down cross-legged, he closed his eyes to briefly enjoy the night breeze blowing in his face. Even back in his own time he always loved sitting out on the roof on nights like this. When he reopened his eyes a moment later, his countenance hardened as he stared out into distance, looking towards tomorrow once again.

He knew how horrible travelling back to his world just to destroy his mother sounded, and he was still slightly uncomfortable about having to do it (though a little more comfortable in killing his uncle), no matter how much he hated her for every horrible thing she's done. But what other choice did he have? They had to be stopped! Their reign of terror has lasted too long; what had once been a planet full of billions of lives had been downsized to just a few hundreds during the two decades the Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou of his world had terrorized Earth. Humanity was hanging by a simple thread back in Future Time, and unless he did something all the humans really will be exterminated. And he just couldn't let that happened...even if that meant taking out his own mother.

_*No, that thing is not my mother!* _he told himself fiercely. *_My mother died that day Dr. Gero turned her into a Jinzouningen. Besides, Bulma is more a mother to me than Juuhachi-gou ever was, and she's counting on me to be the one to stop the Jinzouningen. I can't let her down after everything she's done for me. I can't let any of the survivors down! And I can't let Gohan-san down either!*_

He was starting to think that maybe the reason behind his restlessness was because of the fact his parents in this time were now living under the same roof with him. When he was younger, he had often entertained fantasies of him living together with his parents- that was, him living with his father and the person his mother was when they met. However, that dream instantly shattered to pieces once he learned that his birth mother was one of the enemies, and helped killed his real father.

His eyes then turned earthward to the dark, large sphere in the backyard. Koji sighed. Earlier, when his father had come out to train, he wished he could have joined him-to spar against him one last time before he left for good. But he didn't have the nerve to go try, as he knew from those cold looks Vegeta kept shooting his way at times ever since they left God's Palace earlier that his father wouldn't be very fond of his company right now.

Well, at least he knew his father didn't completely detest him; he had heard from Kuririn about his father going into a fine fit of rage when Cell had nearly killed him. Koji still couldn't get over that. His father, who had never seemed to ever care about him beforehand, had actually tried to avenge him; he could already imagine the look of surprise on his adopted mother's face when he got home and told her about it.

"Still, in spite of everything, I am glad I got the chance to finally know my father," he murmured.

Deciding he should head back in now, Koji stood back to his feet. Then, all of a sudden, he paused, listening to the sound of someone from inside the house sliding their window back...then nothing. Wondering who else was up, Koji started in the direction he heard the noise from when abruptly a lithe form shot out from below and touched down gently on the roof with him. Koji's eyes widened when he saw who it was.

Almost immediately, Juuhachi-gou knew she wasn't out there alone, and turned to stare directly at her future son.

"I had no idea you would be up here," she said.

"Mother-I mean, Juuhachi-gou-san!" Koji had quickly corrected himself after the scowl on Juuhachi-gou's face hardened. Koji sighed. "I was just leaving." On that note, Koji started to go back inside his room again, when...

"_Chotto_," said Juuhachi-gou surprisingly.

Amazed that she didn't want him to leave just yet, Koji stopped and turned back toward his mother. Out the corner of her eye, she was giving him a speculative look.

"_Hai, _Juuhachi-gou-san?"

There was a moment of pause. Then, Juuhachi-gou asked, "Were Juunana-gou and I really horrible killers back your world?"

Koji's expression hardened grimly at the question.

"_Hai_," he replied, after another pause. His voice had been low and hard.

"And you've come here to find a way to destroy us." Juuhachi-gou had simply stated that and wasn't accusing him at all.

"Yes," he answered bluntly again.

More silence passed between mother and son. Even if she wasn't like the woman who actually borne him, it was uncomfortable for him to be standing there talking to any Juuhachi-gou without trying to destroy her for what she did back in his own world. Then again...

"There's something that I must know. Something I've always wanted to ask you and your brother from the first moment I saw you," Koji said. Juuhachi-gou was still looking straight at him. "Why? How come you and your brother don't desire to kill everyone and everything in sight like the Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou of my world? I was expecting you two to have this world in chaos just as soon as Dr. Gero activated you two, but you didn't. And I was even more surprised when you two left with that other Jinzouningen without wanting to engage in battle with the Z-Senshi at all."

"Because there would be no point to it," Juuhachi-gou said simply. "Sure, we could have killed everyone and everything in sight like your mo-like the Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou of your time did, and there wouldn't have been a damn thing you, Vegeta or his little friends could do about it- as you know. I didn't even want to fight Vegeta, but he was being too arrogant for his own good and someone needed to deflate his oversize ego of his. All we cared about was completing our mission in finding Goku and killing him."

"And what if you had succeeded?" Koji demanded angrily. "What would have done after you killed Goku? Would you two go on a rampage then?"

"No!" Juuhachi-gou retorted. Koji stared back at her in surprise, taken back by the fierceness in her voice just then. "Just because the Jinzouningen back in your time are cold-blooded murderers doesn't mean we are over here, too. If we were, do you really believe you'd be here talking to me right now when I could've killed you after I easily knocked you unconscious?"

_*That is true,* _Koji realized, remembering that incident she spoke of. The Jinzouningen completely had them at their mercy, and could've have destroyed them if they really wanted to, but they just flew off and left them there. _*Maybe she's right. She's not evil at all, but still not completely good; she doesn't know how to be. I think that if my mother had to be a Jinzouningen, I would've wanted her to be this way.*_

His face softened and he smile, yet there was still a hardness left in his features. That was due to all the horrible things he'd seen in his world; there was no telling if that hardness would ever go away.

"It was nice...getting the chance to speak with you like this," Koji said tentatively.

Juuhachi-gou regarded him a brief moment longer, before she finally looked away.

Clearing his throat, he added, "Well, I guess I better be turning in. I have a long trip ahead of me...goodnight, Juuhachi-gou-san."

He was about to go back inside his room yet again, but...

"Koji." Koji quickly stopped and turned back to see what she wanted; his mother definitely had his attention now after calling him by his name. Juuhachi-gou turned to look at him directly, folding her arms across her chest. "I hope you know that you'll never be born in this world. I don't know what drew your world's Juuhachi-gou and Vegeta together, but it's not going to happen here."

Koji stared back at his mother quietly for a long time. Then, finally, he looked resigned.

"It's okay. I already know that. I've accepted that," he murmured. Glancing back down at his father's gravity room, he said, "But getting the chance to finally meet Tousan is enough for me."

This time when Koji tried to head back inside his room, Juuhachi-gou didn't stop him. She stared at the spot he had been standing in a second ago a little big longer, and then she looked out into the city.

"Never in a million years," she said.

* * *

The next day, almost all of the gang had gathered outside at Capsule Corporation to say goodbye to two friends.

The first was to Son Goku. A private memorial service had been held in honor of the late great hero. Even Vegeta was in attendance, but of course he kept his distance from the others, standing apart from them against a tree near the house.

Once the memorial was done, it was time to say goodbye yet again, this time to Koji. While the brave warrior from the future was exchanging last words with his adopted mother in the others, this world's version of his birth mother made an appearance. When Juuhachi-gou showed up, it was originally with the intention of not being noticed by anyone, which was why she remained by the corner of the building. For obvious reasons, she had missed Goku's funeral, however, in spite of herself, she had just been unable to watch her son from the future leave from inside the house. Unfortunately, Juuhachi-gou's cover was blown when Vegeta noticed her almost at once, and she noticed him as well.

Following his goodbyes to everyone else, Koji had turned to attempt to do the same with his father. He was stunned to discover his mother was there as well, and was presently exchanging hostile glares with Vegeta. Soon, the two realized he was watching them and looked his way in one motion.

"Father...Juuhachi-gou-san..." he began hesitantly.

His parents regarded him quietly for a long time.

Then, surprisingly, Vegeta threw him the "V" sign.

And even more surprisingly, Juuhachi-gou gave him a nod of approval.

The half-Saiyajin stared back at his parents wide-eyed before breaking out in a huge smile. He threw them the thumbs up.

"Sayonara, Tousan...Kaasan! Have a good life!" he said, with a note of finality in his voice, waving back at them.

Koji said his goodbyes one last time and finally made his way to his time machine. With the click of a few buttons, the young prince was on his way. He waved down at his parents and his friends until they became tiny specks to him. Soon enough, he had completely left the Past and was now making his way across dimensions once more.

As Koji made his way back home, he wore a mask of cold determination on his face that would've made both his parents proud. This was it! When he got home, he was going to pay his mother and uncle a visit to finally put a stop to their two decades of destruction. And when Mirai Cell showed up three years later, he was going to be in for quite a surprise. The once incurably bleak future he was returning to seemed a whole lot brighter already.

And hopefully, somehow, just maybe, he would have a future in the past some day as well.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	2. The Princess of the Saiyajin

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Author's Note: The Saiyajin Princess, Amara, is one of my creations. She was previously known as Anza, but I finally remembered that the Saiyajin names are based off fruits and vegetables. So I came up with Anza's new name from a leaf vegetable known as _Amaranthus cruentus_.**

**For those familiar with the story and are wondering why I've split this chapter up into two, it was because I needed something to fill up Chapter 3 after deleting the content of the old one. So I decided to use Chapter 2 for the actual introduction of Amara and use the new Chapter 3 for her fight with Juuhachi-gou. **

**Back to the story.**

**Chapter Two: The Princess of the Saiyajin**

* * *

A good distance out in space, a bulbous object was advancing, a long stream of white flames trailing after it. From afar, one might mistake it for just another mere comet that was aimlessly passing through. Although from a closer inspection, those who have seen an Attack Ball before would have known what it was right away, and what was riding inside it.

This particular pod, however, was currently occupied by a Saiyajin woman. She had the usual Saiyajin features: black eyes, black hair (albeit longer than most Saiyajin women would have preferred theirs, as the length extended down to her upper back), and an expression of fury that seemed permanently fixed on her face. Despite such a sour disposition, she could still be considered beautiful by most, but then again, this woman wasn't the type who cared about her looks; after all, she was a warrior first above everything else.

For the time being, she just sat motionlessly in her chair, a deadly glint flickering violently within her dark eyes, making them shine like black cabochons inside the gloom of the pod. Truthfully, she shouldn't even be alive right now. She should be living out her punishment in Hell along with the rest of her kind for all the heinous acts they had committed for centuries.

However, destiny wasn't finished with her just yet.

On that fateful day of the Saiyajin's genocide, she had fortunately been completely off the planet. Ironically enough, at the time she had been nestled safely aboard the ship of the culprit's very own brother, Kuura. A day before the massacre, despite her protests, her father had made some kind of deal with the older son of King Cold, and before she knew it she had become his new property.

Not understanding why her father would just sell her off like that, she resented him with all her heart at first. But then, she was forced to watch Furiiza heartlessly annihilate her people and her home world with it, and she understood her father's reason all-too clearly. He had sold her to their enemy's own brother to save her life. From that day forward, she had secretly vowed to get revenge against all of the Cold Empire; no matter what it took! She would make Furiiza pay for the slaughter of her father and the other Saiyajin, and kill Kuura and all of his underlings for going out of their way to make her feel like absolute scum during those dark years she had been trapped in bondage.

One of Kuura's soldiers she wanted to kill so badly in particular went by the name of Sauzer. He had done something to her that she could never forgive, cutting off her tail with his signature technique, the Sauzer Blade. She had longed for the day when she could get strong enough so that she could carve him up with his own techinique, just as he did her tail. To see his pretty little face covered in blood and sweat and fear, before she delivered the killing blow.

Unfortunately, someone had beat her to the punch. Every last one of her enemies.

Among the Planet Trade Organization, rumors had ran rampant that King Cold and both of his sons had met their end on a planet in the rural territory, Earth. What the Saiyajin woman had found even more interesting about the rumors, were that people had been saying the three had been killed off by a Super Saiyajin. Just like the others in the Organization, she couldn't dare believe it at first...all the males of the Cold Empire were dead...and the one responsible for it had been the Super Saiyajin of legends?

Ever since she was a child, she had dreamed of joining the ranks of the Super Saiyajin, though back then, that desire had mostly been borne from wanting to prove both her father and brother wrong, who were both single-minded in the belief that only Saiyajin males would receive the transformation. Eventually, all the rumors were accepted to be true, due to the long absences of the king and his sons. When that happened...the Saiyajin had openly celebrated by completely cutting loose! She got even with every lowlife bastard in the Planet Trade Organization who dared to look down on her. All of the planets that Kuura had ownership of were now nothing more than gravesites sitting out in space.

The woman had soon brought back her icy calm around her like an invisible trenchcoat; as deliciously fun as that had memory had been, she knew it was time to get focused. She had come all of this way to take care of some serious business, and, incidentally, it was on Earth. Surprisingly, her reason for going there wasn't to meet the Super Saiyajin that supposedly lived there or to reunite with her own kind. She also had no intentions of running wild like some Saiyajin in the past have done. Though, if anyone there tried to get in her way, she would kill them without hesitation. No, she was after a specific kind of vermin living on that planet; someone who was almost, _almost_ as unforgivable in her eyes as the Cold Clan or Sauzer. This was someone who had stolen her renewed pride after she had severed her tides to the Organization. And if there was one thing you just didn't do, it was strip away a Saiyajin's pride and leave them alive.

Especially the pride of Amara, a Saiyajin Princess.

* * *

Back on Earth the next day, Vegeta leaned on the window sill inside his room, staring out into the distance. Usually at this time, he would be training inside of his gravity chamber, but...

_*But Kakarott is dead, and he isn't coming back this time.*_

Vegeta grimaced at the reminder. That was why he wasn't training right now. After Goku defeated him years ago, Vegeta's purpose in life had solely become to surpass the other Saiyajin and defeat him no matter what it took, or how long. Even when the problems with Furiiza and his family and Dr. Gero and his Jinzouningen arose, nothing had changed that. His pride as the Saiyajin Prince wouldn't accept being weaker than a third-class peasant!

However, now his rival was gone, and he had still been surpassed; even Kakarott's son outclassed him now. When Kakarott died, so did his purpose in life.

The prince had thought about taking the ship where he trained and leaving Earth entirely, but, he quickly dismissed the idea as pointless. In space, he had even less of a purpose. Galactic tyranny had lost its appeal to him years ago. Where would he go from now?

_*Will it always be this way?* _he asked himself angrily, his right hand clenching into a fist, shaking with powerless anger. _*I was born the Prince of my people, yet look at me now. Surely I was destined for something more than this!*_

Noticing movement down below out his peripheral vision, Vegeta looked down and his frown deepened when he saw the blonde-haired woman stepping out of the compound. Ever since she had started living there at Capsule Corp a week ago, Juuhachi-gou would go fly off somewhere for a couple-to-few hours before eventually coming back. If anyone had asked Vegeta, he would much prefer if she just stayed away. But no one asked him. The two more or less ignored one another, with her staying out of his way, which was well as she should if she cared about her well-being.

Dark brows rose in question when Juuhachi-gou suddenly looked skyward, unknowingly giving him a good look at her face. She seemed genuinely put off about something. No, not just that, but lost...as if she didn't know which way to go next.

Just like him.

Vegeta was immediately struck with shock that such a thought would even cross his mind. He privately rebuked himself for relating them together; how ridiculous!

Juuhachi-gou abruptly became aware that someone was watching her, and she looked around, her blue eyes quickly spotting Vegeta in the window. Her visage hardened into a cold scowl within an instant. Vegeta's eyes briefly widened, from the surprise of being caught, then they narrowed as he returned her the same look. The two held each other's gaze for a long moment. It was Juuhachi-gou who looked away first, as she turned and rocketed away into the sky, doubtless headed off to wherever she went to.

"Damn cyborg," Vegeta grumbled.

Then the prince's eyes widened again, this time due to a new ki brushing the edges of his senses like a shock of lightning. It was still out in space, but it was approaching swiftly. Too swiftly; it would reach the Earth shortly. More importantly, why did this ki feel so undeniably Saiyajin? This was impossible! But that was impossible! Any Saiyajin survivor of the massacre should have all been accounted for now! Whomever the Saiyajin was, they were no weakling (although he smugly amended that at the same time this person was still one compared to him), much stronger than the Saiyajin of old. Oddly enough, though, something about this ki felt very familiar, very important. It was a feeling that pricked at the back of his mind, trying to stir some long lost memory that refused to surface.

_*Who could this Saiyajin be?* _he wondered, glaring up at the sky.

* * *

As usual, all was peaceful and quiet in the Heavenly Realm at the Tenkai. Piccolo was still tutoring young Dende in the ways of being the planet's new Kami, and not too far away, Mr. Popo was watering the flowers.

Then the tranquil atmosphere was disrupted, as both the Namekseijin and the djinn felt an unknown ki descending onto the planet. As they all looked around and upward, they watched with equal shock as an only-too recognizable spacecraft came barrelling out of the stratosphere past them, charting a swift course toward the world below.

"T-that was...!" Piccolo growled, clenching both his hands.

"It was! It was definitely a space pod!" Dende confirmed, looking worried.

Mr. Popo gasped.

"A Saiyajin..." Piccolo snarled, immediately recognizing the ki he sensed from the pod as it passed. He grimaced. "Nothing good ever comes from Saiyajin showing up out of the blue. I wonder what this one could be after?"

* * *

_*It's hopeless.* _That was the thought that ran through Juuhachi-gou's mind. Once again, she had come nowhere near close to finding her brother. Since she started living with Bulma and her family a week ago, whenever she found find the time, she would go out and do her absolute best to search for her missing twin. She had searched high and low for him, searching in the places she thought her brother might go. Sadly, though, like always, her searches ended up in failure.

Juuhachi-gou sighed, currently standing on a large building in Ginger Town. She started to wonder if she was going to have to finally listen to the voice in the back of her head that kept telling her why she couldn't find Juunana-gou anywhere, in spite of her best efforts. It was the voice that kept telling her that she couldn't find her twin brother because he was dead. She didn't want to believe it, but...

_*But why else can't I find him?* _she finished the thought. If he still was really alive, surely he would be doing his hardest to look for her as she was him...Right? Of course he would! They were twins, he wouldn't just forget about her and leave her alone!

_*Then does that mean he really is dead?* _No matter how stronger that one conclusion kept getting as the days passed, she still didn't want to believe it. She still wanted to believe that he was still alive somewhere.

Besides, if she gave in to the horrible truth, then...then what was there for her?

In all of her curtailed memory, Juuhachi-gou had always had a purpose, but in this new life she really had no purpose. She just goes through the motion, from one day to the other. Her eyes narrowed as she observed the people below. She envied them as they went on their daily business, looking as if they didn't have a worry in a world.

At least she had found out what had happened to Juuroku-gou, however, it had been no better. The other day while inside Dr. Briefs' laboratory, she had come across blueprints for the stoic Jinzouningen and also her brother. Instantly, she demanded what had happened to him. The blue-haired woman had told her how after repairing the damages Cell had done to him, Juuroku-gou had met his final end at Cell's hands after he absorbed her. Again, she wanted to go out and destroy something. While her and Artificial Human #16 had nothing in common, except being created to kill Son Goku, and while he did amuse her to no end with his strange infactuation with nature, he'd still been her _friend_. He had risked his very existence just to save her from Cell. And now he as gone...all because of her.

But there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could about Juunana-gou either, she was forced to realize. From this point on, all she could do was move on with her life.

Besides, life at Capsule Corporation wasn't horribly at all; in fact, it was rather pleasant. Bulma and her parents were as nice to her as they could be, although Mrs. Briefs' eternal cheeriness secretly irritated her at times. It just boggled her augmented mind how anyone could be so happy all the time. She barely saw Dr. Briefs as he was always working in his lab. Yamucha and that animal friend of his were still too afraid of her to even attempt to hold a conversation, which always brought a small smug smirk to her lips. As for Vegeta, she usually did her best to just ignore him and stay out of his way, and he did the same if he knew what was good for him.

She abruptly wondered whatever became of that boy-Koji? Was he successful in stopping the future versions of her and her brother? Or had him coming back to the Past been a complete waste of time? To be honest, she wouldn't be surprised at all if it was the former. Even though she knew any version of herself or her brother as cyborgs were extremely powerful, she had actually learned from her fight against Vegeta: never underestimate your opponent, especially when your opponent was a Super Saiyajin. While she remembered him once being so weak that all it took was to throw Vegeta into him to put him down, that night while they were out on the balcony talking, she could definitely tell that he was a whole lot stronger than he was then. All the Saiyajin were, and as well as Piccolo.

It was still hard for her to accept that somewhere out there in another timeline she actually had a son, and even harder that his father was Vegeta. Juuhachi-gou grimaced and closed her eyes, savagely willing away the nausea created by the thought of her and Vegeta _together_. She didn't think she could ever think of the two of them like that without wanting to hurl...actually, she didn't want to think about them in that fashion at all

Momentarily, Juuhachi-gou reopened her eyes with a look of a surprise, glancing right when her sensors picked up on a strong shockwave many miles beyond the city. She knew that it could only be from a explosion. Her eyes narrowed. What had caused it, though? Whatever it was, she decided, it was better than continuing with what was starting to seem like a fruitless search. Making her mind up, Juuhachi-gou flew off in the direction the tremor originated.

* * *

Not too long ago, the Attack Ball made an explosive landing in the center of a wasteland, sending smoke, dust, chips of rocks and dirt flying everywhere. Even now smoke was still issuing from the crater, however, inside the pod the Princess herself wasn't aware she had just landed yet, deep in hibernated sleep. As she slept, Amara dreamed away, but she sure wouldn't call it a dream- it was more like a bitter nightmare, to be more precise. It was the same nightmare she had been having ever since that horrible event that had occurred a few years ago. No, not the massacre of her race and home, or even having her tail chopped off. It was another incident of travesty that was almost just as fury-inspiring to her.

The pod's alarm suddenly went off, Amara resurfaced from the depths of sleep. Then she awoke fully with bitter anticipation when she realized that her pod had landed. Her blood singing, Amara opened the hatch and she stepped outside; the first thing she did was stretch out her muscles. Being cramped inside a space pod for hours-on-end was quite an annoying experience.

Levitating out of the crater, Amara touched down above ground near its rim. She surveyed the scenery around her with a critical eye.

_*What a perfect the site for a burial,* _she thought, smirking. Then Amara grimaced, that familiar cold rage gripping her again.

Four years ago, on a world far from this solar system, she had confronted a force she had been completely unprepared for. From the beginning she had no chance of beating this unknown enemy, and was basically toyed with until the enemy simply got tired of playing and ended with a single blow. She had fully assumed she would be killed, but she had been spared, and that had stung her pride as much as losing to someone like that person. After that, she completely resolved herself to make that piece of filth suffer one day.

In the following years, she had trained long and hard for this day, putting herself through numerous rigorous trials and tribulations as she didn't to face defeat against this person ever again. There had been lots of days when Amara though she wouldn't survived. The opponents she chose to fight were fierce, some unbelieveably even fiercer than the Saiyajin. But in the end, all the hell she went through had paid off. She had gained power that other Saiyajin had only dreamed about. Feeling beyond confident that she would be able to get her revenge, she had decided it was finally time to unveil herself and demand her long-awaited rematch.

The scowl on Amara's face intensified as her mind turned back to that horrid day.

"_DIE!" Princess Amara screamed, firing an intense, blood-red ki blast. _

_In front of her, her opponent-female as well- stood calm and cool, the faintest trace of a haughty smile decorating her face. When the energy blast had reached her, the woman didn't even try to avoid it, letting the attack hit home. Amara grinned victoriously, but it was short-lived as her expression soon morphed into dismay when the smoke cleared and she was still standing without a single scratch on her. Amara bristled at what just happened. _

_Amara rushed forward, lashing out with numerous blows in the space of a minute. The other woman deflected all of Amara's attempts effortlessly like she had been doing all of the Saiyajin's other attacks. From the get-go, it was quite obvious who was the much superior fighter in this battle. But being a Saiyajin, Saiyajin royalty at that, the princess refused to believe that. She wouldn't lose to someone wasn't really a warrior, but a girl in powerful armor! _

_Perched on a boulder on the sideline, the other woman's male companion let out a sigh of boredom, as the fight was apparently starting to lose its charm on him. _

_"Would you hurry it up and finish her off already?" he complained. "I'd like to get on to something to new, and a lot exciting!"_

_"Oh, all right," the woman agreed grumpily. "Hmph, and you say I always ruin your fun!" _

_Turning back to Amara, she leaped into the air_ _to avoid a roundhouse punch from her furious opponent. As she came back down at a speed that the princess hadn't even been able to register, she greeted Amara with a brutal kick to the side of the head to send her sprawling across the ground until she collided into the boulder the young man who had been sitting on only split seconds ago._ _He hovered over the fallen Saiyajin, his face devoid of emotions as he stared down at the unconscious yet still alive warrior. _

"_About time," he said as he touched down beside the other woman, who moved toward her motionless opponent. He looked at her curiously. "So, are you going to kill her?" _

_The girl considered the question for a moment. _

_"No. She's not the worth it at all," the woman answered arrogantly. "So, where to now?"_

_"I definitely don't wanna go back to the old man just yet," he replied, his voice as bitter as his expression as he referred to their creator. Briefly, his sister's mirrored his expression, but she soon sighed in resignation. _

_"But you know we have to," she told him. "Because if we don't, he'll come looking for us with that damned Controller Box of his." _

_"Yes, we really must deal with that little annoyance soon, dear sister," the brother said, flashing his sibling a conspiratorial grin. _

_She returned the grin. "Which one? The Controller Box? Or the person who uses it on us?" _

_"Both." _

_"So, when do you think we're going back to Earth to finally deal with this Son Goku person?" _

_"Who knows," the brother answered, shrugging his shoulders indifferently. He and his sister soon started to walk away, leaving Amara's unmoving form. "But then again, why should we care, anyway? For all the talking Gero's done about Goku, I doubt he'll give us as much as a challenge as that unfamiliar Saiyajin woman you just took out."_

_"Perhaps you are right." _

_Nothing more was said between the brother and sister, as they soon rose into the air and flew away, leaving the Saiyajin no Oujo alone and forgotten. But during their whole conversation, Amara had heard everything..._

When Amara returned back to the here and now, small amounts of blood trickling down both her clench hands as she'd clenched them a little too tightly. _*No matter how much I hate to admit, that bitch was so much superior than me...But all that was back then. I am much stronger now. That wind-up doll be in for a surprise when she sees me again."_

Looking skyward, she loudly declared, "And this time, victory is definitely mine...Juuhachi-gou!"

Taking a deep breath to calm herself back down and maintain her focus, the Saiyajin no Oujo began preparing herself for her upcoming battle against Juuhachi-gou. But just as Amara was about begin her search, the power level alarm on her scouter went off. Looking around and upward, she noticed something approaching her, enshrouded in white flames. Whatever it was, her scouter scanned it...and she reflexively closed her eyes and flinched when the scouter abruptly shattered in her face.

Swearing, Amara pulled off the damaged instrument and tossed it away angrily. She immediately turned her gaze back to the owner of that surprising ki, who was steadily drawing nearer. Unlike most Saiyajin, the scouter Amara wore on her face was more like decoration for her, as she had achieved an ability that none of the other Saiyajin had learned before the genocide. Not even her father or her brother. It was the ability to sense someone's battle power without using a scouter.

"Who is that person? Is it really a Earthling!" she wondered, frowning. From the information she had gathered on this planet before came, the Earthlings were supposed to be pathetically weak, with hardly any battle power at all. They weren't supposed to have ki high enough to destroy her scouter! Then her eyes widened in surprise as a thought struck her. "Unless...Could this be him? The Super Saiyajin who defeated Kuura and Furiiza?"

She would get her answer soon enough, as the entity alighted before her within the next few moments. Looking up, she was even more surprised when she took a good look at the green, beturbaned, cloaked figure in front of her, his visage very uncongenial.

"You're no Super Saiyajin, that's for sure," Amara said, looking a trifle disappointed. She quickly slid a mask of half-disdain, half-amusement down over her face to hide the expression. "Now, what would a Namekseijin be doing all the way across the galaxy on this backwater planet?"

Piccolo didn't respond to her right away. Instead, he was taking the moment to take in all the features of the woman standing before him. There was no doubt about it, this woman was a Saiyajin. Even if he hadn't seen her space pod fly past the Lookout, he still would've known that haughty attitude that all the Saiyajin seemed to possess (save for Goku, although he did have his very rare moments) anywhere. Plus, she was dressed in silver and black armor, gauntlets, and boots that a could have been a replica of the ones Raditz and Nappa had worn, though the only differences between the armors was that this woman was wearing black spandex pants underneath, and had an important looking emblem patterned on the right side of her breastplate. The symbol gave Piccolo the vague notion of the tip of a wheat grass.

_*Is she some kind of noble or something?* _he wondered. Aloud, he asked, "What is your business here, Saiyajin?"

"That's none of your concern, Namekseijin," Amara replied coldly, frowning. "You're bothering me, so go away before I kill-"

Amara broke off in her words, an idea crossing her mind.

"On second thought, maybe you could actually help me out, after all," she amended. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised at all if someone of your kind had come into contact with this person."

"Huh?" Piccolo asked. "Who do you need help finding? Another Saiyajin?"

Amara shook her head. "No, that's not what I'm here for. I'm looking for someone else. A blonde-haired woman with light blue eyes. She is a Jinzouningen who goes by the name Juuhachi-gou."

Piccolo's face twised in open surprise. The Princess immediately zeroed in on the expression, and she smiled smugly.

"So, you do know her," Amara said. "All right, Namekseijin, confess. Where is she?"

"I don't get this," Piccolo replied, confused. "What business would a Saiyajin from outer space have with that cyborg. It doesn't make sense at all."

"All you need to know is that bucket of bolts has a debt to repay. No more useless chitchat! Tell me where she is this instant!"

Piccolo paused for a long moment, turning the idea over in his mind.

"Unfortunately for you, I can't do that," he told her ultimately.

"What?" Amara demanded, outraged.

"I don't know what's happened between you and Juuhachi-gou in the past, it would be in your best interest to keep it in the past," Piccolo warned, smirking. "If you have come here to fight her, then I would highly advise against it. Because I can sense your strength, and you're just out of your league."

Amara was glaring at Piccolo in pure hatred, shaking with barely contained ire. She couldn't wrap her brain around some Namekseijin daring to look down on her. Who did this rotten bastard think he was talking too!

Piccolo noticed her expression, though he remained calm. She was absolutely nothing for him to be concerned about. As he tried to tell her, Juuhachi-gou was too strong for her, but now he was even stronger than either Juuhachi-gou or Juunana-gou. So, naturally if she couldn't beat Juuhachi-gou, then there was no way she could beat him.

At last, Amara managed to compose herself. She wasn't going to let herself become unravelled by a mere Namekseijin. Her mouth twisted into an unpleasant sneer.

"On second thought, a warm-up doesn't sound too bad at all," she said. Right behind those words, she stretched her right hand forward and fired a strong blast of energy.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	3. Like Brother, Like Sister

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Chapter Three: Like Brother, Like Sister**

* * *

To the east, Juuhachi-gou sped through the air. The further the blonde woman flew, the sharper the sense that something important was about to happen got, but she just couldn't put her finger on what it could be. She was still wondering about it, when she suddenly spied movement in the sky ahead of her. Narrowing her eyes and magnifying her vision, Juuhachi-gou could soon make out the shape of someone wrapped in white fire in front of her. Her brows creased in annoyance. It was someone she knew all right, but someone she really didn't want to see right now.

_*I should've known he would get wind of this,* _she thought irritably.

Up ahead, dressed in his Saiyajin armor, Vegeta was making his way toward the location of the eerily familiar ki he felt earlier; his expression was caught between half-irritation and half-contemplation as he pondered over who this Saiyajin warrior could be. What connection did he have to this person?

Just then, his musing was interrupted when a slender form pulled out from behind Vegeta and shot passed him in a burst of speed, hurtling further ahead. It didn't take Vegeta long to recognize who it is, and his habitual scowl returned full-force.

"What is that artificial doll doing here?" he grumbled.

* * *

"Thanks a lot, Kuririn-san. I really appreciate you helpin' me and Gohan-chan out like this," Chichi was saying to the two figures half-hidden behind the many grocery bags they toted. The brunette opened the front door to her house and stepped aside to allow her son and their friend inside.

"No problem, Chichi. Just glad to be of some help," replied Kuririn, as he started depositing the purchases on the sink counter, while Gohan placed his load on the dinner table.

"Yeah, it's good you arrived when we did, Kuririn-san," Gohan said with a small, grateful laugh. "You just saved me from having to carry all those bags in by myself."

Gohan was making his way toward the refridgerator to deposit a newly-purchased jug of milk inside, when...

FLASH!

Hearing a sudden crash, Chichi and Kuririn looked over at Gohan simultaneously. They saw that Gohan had dropped the milk, so the jug it had been in shattering as soon as it landed. A puddle of white liquid swiftly began to grow on Chichi's once immaculate kitchen floor. Chichi quickly dismissed that as she was too busy noticing her son's body becoming very tensed and the widening of his eyes. Something was wrong.

"Gohan-chan?" asked the Ox King's daughter, her voice dripping in concern.

"Yeah, buddy, you all right?" Kuririn inquired, looking worried too.

"It's Piccolo-san!" Gohan gasped, whirling around to face the two adults, who immediately noticed the look of panic on his face. "He's in trouble!"

"_Nani ka_?" Chichi said. Beside her, Kuririn's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on sensing for what Gohan had just sensed. A second later, the bald warrior stiffened when he quickly felt the Namekseijin's ki, and wherever Piccolo was, he was in trouble. Also, he felt another ki signature with Piccolo's. It was one he was quite unfamiliar with, and whomever it belonged to was powerful, though still not as strong as Piccolo. While he sensed at the same time this newcomer was holding back some power, Kuririn thought the person definitely shouldn't have been anything for the Namekseijin to handle. And that worried him.

"I feel it too, pal," Kuririn said at last, looking grim.

"What's goin' on you two?" Chichi demanded, standing akimbo as she looked from her son to her dead husband's best friend. Her round eyes widened as a thought came to her. "Hey, the Earth isn't in danger again, isn't-Gohan!" she shrieked in the last part of her unfinished sentence, when white-fire suddenly burst from her son's wiry-muscled frame. And before she could do anything, her son shot past her and her Kuririn to the outside where he took to the air, briskly soaring away from the house.

"Son Gohan! You get back here this instant, young man!" Chichi bellowed after him. It wasn't known if Gohan could hear his mother or not, but if he did he deliberately paid her no heed as he kept moving forward until he was just a dwindling speck in the sky. Seeing that her screaming was fruitless, the only thing Chichi could do in that situation was collaspe to her knees in the middle of the doorway and sob. "Damn that boy, he's always doing this! I just lost his father, and I don't wanna lose him as well. He's all I got left!"

"Don't worry, Chichi," Kuririn said, placing a comforting hand on the ex-warrior's shoulder. "Gohan's a strong kid, he can take care of himself. But if it'll make you feel better, I'll go follow and look after him."

"Arigatou, Kuririn-san," Chichi managed, wiping her tears away. Goku dying again and deciding not to come back this time really hit her hard. She'd tried to be strong for her and Gohan, and keep herself from crying whenever she was in front of her son and their friends. Only, she just couldn't help it whenever Gohan pulled stunts as the one he'd pulled now.

She had just gotten back up to her feet, when Kuririn had stepped outside and finally gave chase.

"Be careful, you two," Chichi murmured.

* * *

A green and white blur was seen streaking out of the sky at breakneck speed, making a bone-jarring landing on the terrain. As the smoke cloud created from the hard impact ebbed away quickly, it was soon revealed that the green and white blur had actually been Piccolo, who wasn't in good condition at the moment. The former Demon King-Kami-sama now lay motionless at the bottom of a crater, deprived of his right arm and lower legs; white-purplish blood trickled from where the limbs had been disconnected from his body, as well as all over his face.

In the next moment, his attacker touched down beside the gaping hole. Sauntering towards its rim, a smug-looking Amara peered inside and looked down at her opponent in cold triumph. She had been surprised at what a challenger the Namekseijin had turned out to be; in fact, for a second she thought that she would have to unveil the surprise she had planned for Juuhachi-gou earlier than she intended to. But the knowledge that he was much stronger than this new Saiyajin had made him too arrogant for his own good. All it took was for Amara to lure him into a false sense of security, like pretending to bow down to him in defeat, and the battle had been hers when she suprised him suddenly with two Tsuibi Kienzan, which Piccolo had sadly mistaken for the same type that Kuririn used and thought it would explode somewhere after it had initally dodged them. He was completely unprepared when the energy discs made a U-turn at the last second, and it cost him his right arm and both his legs. Then the princess topped off her attack with a strong ki blast, amplfied with some of her true power, sending Piccolo on a one-way trip earthbound.

Which now brought them to this scenario.

"Hm?" Amara's brows raised in surprise when she saw Piccolo feebly attempting to move. "Still alive? You're a tougher bastard than I gave you credit for, Namekseijin; for a short time, I thought I might actually be done for before I completed what I came here to do."

"Sc-screw...you!" Piccolo spat out defiantly.

That only made Amara laugh. Raising her right hand, Amara gathered up her ki, forming it into a Energy Sword around her right arm. Screaming, Amara prepared to bring the sword down to pierce the green warrior's heart, however, before she could, two figures suddenly touched down out of the sky behind her. Noticing this out the corner of her eye, Amara quickly retracted the Energy Sword and summoned up more power as she whirled around to see who it was, both her arms outstretched with globes of ki in each hand, waiting to be unleashed on the nosy vermin. Angular, midnight eyes abruptly widened as recognition of just who was standing in front of her slammed into the Princess hard, making her freeze in place.

"Juuhachi-gou!...And Vegeta?"

"Amara!" Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou exclaimed simultaneously. They then looked at each other in puzzlement.

"How do you know her, Jinzouningen?" he asked.

Juuhachi-gou briefly scowled back at him frowning, before her catlike eyes turned to the other Saiyajin. Her icy calm didn't waver in the slightest even as she saw Amara glaring back at her with unadulterated hatred burning in her dark eyes.

"We have a little history," Juuhachi-gou answered at last, speaking in the tone of one presenting a display at a museum. "She and I crossed paths back when Dr. Gero took me and Juunana-gou into space once on his ship."

"A ship?" Vegeta said in surprise. He scowled. "That brat never mentioned anything about that!"

"If you're talking about _him_, he most likely just didn't know about it," Juuhachi-gou replied, never taking her eyes off Amara, who looked posied to strike at any second now. "Nobody knew it about it, really. On the first planet we visit, we ran into some complications. So in the end, the project was deemed a failure by Gero before it could really get started." Still not looking his way, she then added, "And it's pretty obvious how you two know each other."

Vegeta didn't answer her right away. He crossed his arms and looked over at the Saiyajin woman, who was shooting sharp-edged dagger looks at the blue-eyed woman. A slow half-smile finally curved his lips.

"This isn't just one of my people standing before you," he said, almost admiringly. Almost. "Like myself, this woman is a noble warrior of the royal bloodline of my people. This is the Princess of the Saiyajin. My sister."

For the first time since they arrived in the area, Juuhachi-gou looked directly at Vegeta, her eyes widened in open shock.

"The Pr-Pincess of the Saiyajin!" the cyborg exclaimed. Turning back to Amara, she clearly saw how pleased the other woman was of her reaction.

"But Amara, what are you doing here?" Vegeta asked, finally gaining the Saiyajin woman's full attention. "Where have you been all this time? I thought you were dead."

Amara glowered. "You would think that, wouldn't you, brother?" she said with sudden bitterness, stabbing a finger at Vegeta. A mildly surprised Vegeta quickly hid his expression behind his usual scowl. "Even as kids, you always looked down on me, despite the fact that Father and all the doctors as well said that I was talented just like you were!"

For a moment, the two royal siblings traded hard stares. Juuhachi-gou looked from Saiyajin to Saiyajin, wondering if a confrontation was actually about to break out between them. Surprisingly, Amara backed down first.

"Since you are here, then it's as I thought after all," Amara said, staring back at her brother with a strange look of amazement. "You're the Super Saiyajin who killed off King Cold and his sons!" She didn't notice Vegeta's lips twitch from the claim as she went on. "When I heard about it, I didn't believe it at first, but I started to figure that it might be you. You may have thought I was dead, but I've known you were alive all of this time."

Looking away, an expression of acrimony etched on his face, Vegeta said, "While it's true that I am a Super Saiyajin...it was another Super Saiyajin who took care of those three."

"Is that so?" Amara asked, surprised by this. "Well, no matter, that's not why I'm here. Even if I had known you were here beforehand, you aren't the reason I'm here in the first place. She is." The Saiyajin princess then turned her glare on Juuhachi-gou. "You have a debt to repay, android. Now it's time for payback!"

Juuhachi-gou stared blankly at Amara for a short while. Then her expression twisted into a devilish mask.

"Hmph. Do you really want to go through this again?" she asked, the arrogance in her voice clearly heard by the two Saiyajin. "Last time I only played with you without even using half of my strength. Now just imagine what I can do if I were to really _try _to fight you."

"I wouldn't get so cocky just yet, Jinzouningen!" Amara grinned, looking fiercely satisfied. "The outcome will be much different from last time."

Juuhachi-gou didn't respond, only smirked coolly.

Amara was just about to speak again when she suddenly noticed something. Her brother and her enemy were standing awfully close to one another. And they had also arrived together, now that she remembered. They weren't friends were they? Or were they-Amara quickly shook her head. She wouldn't dare believe that Vegeta would take to consorting with a Jinzouningen, and she _definitely_ wouldn't believe that they were friends. Then again, she amended, with all of the eligible Saiyajin female dying in the genocide on Vegetasei, her brother could've had a momentary lapse and mated with the Jinzouningen. Though she loathed the cyborg greatly, the princess still knew that most men would find her highly attractive. Amara scowled disapprovingly.

"You two look awfully close standing there like that," she remarked, crossing her arms. "Vegeta, you wouldn't happen to be in a relationship with this artificial human, would you?"

At Amara's words, in uncommon humor, the two glanced at each other in revulsion after realizing they were standing pretty close together, and then quickly distanced themselves from one another. The two then glared at the Princess in equal anger

"Don't be ridiculous!" Vegeta snapped.

"He and I are most definitely NOT a couple!" Juuhachi-gou exclaimed.

"Good," Amara replied, nodding once. She turned to her brother. "So there won't be any hard feelings if I destroy her?"

"Do whatever you want with her!" Vegeta retorted, ignoring the venomous glare Juuhachi-gou flung at him. "I could care less what happens to the Jinzouningen!"

"Good," Amara replied. A unpleasant, unforgiving grin plastered her beautiful face as her dark eyes flicked back over in Juuhachi-gou's direction, clenching her fists in anticipation.

When she saw the look on Amara's face, Juuhachi-gou let out a tiny sigh of resignation and drew up in her accustomed fighting stance. Truthfully, she wasn't even in the mood to fight anyone today, nor was she really dressed for a fight. She was only garbed in a sleeveless, red top, white capri pants, and some sandals. That was definitely not the wardrobe one would wear to a battle. Though, she highly doubted she had any choice not to fight the way she was.

Nevertheless, she may not have been in a fighting mood today, but that didn't exactly mean she would back down from the Saiyajin Princess.

"Well, since you're so keen on getting humiliated again, fine by me," Juuhachi-gou said.

Amara crunched her left fist into her right hand, still grinning. "I'm going to really enjoy this!"

Wordlessly, Vegeta walked over to a conveniently placed cliff and leaned against it, in good view of the ensuing fight. Observing his sister lowering into a fighting pose, he vaguely wondered if she really knew what she was doing; when they were kids, she always tried taking on things that seemed too impossible for her to handle, just to prove to him she was just as good as he was. If that cyborg could beat him, one of the most powerful fighters in the universe, then what chance did Amara have?

His eyes widened briefly as a thought came to him. Had she somehow been able to transform into a Super Saiyajin as well and that was why she reappeared in front of the android so confident about a rematch? *_Well, we'll see soon enough.* _Vegeta mused with the hint of a half-formed smirk on his face, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited for this fight to start with a look of vague interest.

Some distance away from Vegeta, the women began to slowly, warily circle one another, giving each other appraising looks. Though she couldn't sense ki like the Z-Soldiers could, Juuhachi-gou could still sense that Amara hadn't been lying when she said she'd become a whole lot stronger after their last encounter. Glancing over at the injured Piccolo, she thought it definitely said something about her improvement if she could do that to Piccolo. She would have to be on guard, that's for sure.

"So, shall we skip the warm-up and cut straight to chase?" asked Juuhachi-gou in her toneless voice, her expression deadpan.

Amara grinned at the other woman in pure malice. "Fine, I have no problems with bringing all my cards to the table so early!" she crowed. She glanced over at Vegeta. "Brother, remember what you and father would tell me? That I would never become a Super Saiyajin because I was a female? Well, both of you, behold as I join the legendary status of the Saiyajin...Super Saiyajin!"

"Huh?" Juuhachi-gou said, her brows raised in surprise.

_*So, I was right,*_ the Prince thought, though didn't really sound all that pleased by it. He wondered how long it had took her to achieve the transformation...

Amara let out a slow chuckle that quickly escalated into a malicious cackle when she saw the look of surprise on Juuhachi-gou's face.

"Now, here I go!" she announced, spreading her feet wide and clenching her fists. For a brief moment, she strained her whole body, her teeth gritted and veins bulged on either side of her forehead as she concentrated. In the next, her body straightened like a ramrod and she flung her head back, screaming. Both Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou watched wide-eyed and jaw-slacked as a familiar a golden fire exploded from Amara's body, with peals of gold electricity running through it; her muscles increased, though not outrageously to take away her feminine shape. The terrain shivered then splintered into a dull crater beneath her feet under the strain of her power, as if someone had pushed back some of the earth to give her some room; wild plants were violently ruffled as they got caught in the airstreams of the Saiyajin Princess's own power. Meanwhile, the bangs having over Amara's forehead, and as well as parts of her hair in the front, slowly rose up into spikes, turning from black to gold-white, her eyes flickering blue-green on and off like someone flipping a light switch until they finally stayed blue-green. When she was finally finished, Amara turned to her brother and her enemy, a deadly smile curving her mouth.

"Believe it or not, Juuhachi-gou, I owe you thanks for this." There was no gratitude in her voice at all just then, assented by the icy anger reflected in her face. "After you beat me so easily, I swore I would do anything to pay you back. I pushed my body to the limit, facing opponents many times stronger than me. It was right when I'd been at Death's door that I realized...I realized that I would never catch up to you in power. That thought infuriated me to no end...and that's when it happened. I transformed! And now I stand before you once again, Jinzouningen...It is time for reprisal!"

Unnoticed, Vegeta stared at his sister in astonishment. Her road to the Super Saiyajin transformation sounded so similar to his that it was almost eerily to him. But still, he knew this battle would be over before it even began. It was very obvious to him that his sister still hadn't even begun to master that form yet, and he knew only too well that a Super Saiyajin at that state was no match against Juuhachi-gou.

The Prince growled as he had to suffer a mental wince at being reminded at how Juuhachi-gou had beaten him after he'd first became a Super Saiyajin. He hadn't forgotten about that, either. He still intended to make her pay for the blow she'd dealt to his pride, just like he tended to do the same to Kakarott if he ever showed his face on Earth again. One of these days, he was going to make them both pay.

Over in front of Amara, Juuhachi-gou was actually about to make a comment, but never got the chance as Amara had finally went into action. She crossed the distance between her and the cyborg in a heartbeat, and instantly starting swinging her fists and feet. Using her superiority in speed, Juuhachi-gou fielded each punch and kick that came her way- just like last time. Finally seeing an opening in the angry Super Saiyajin woman's defenses, the Jinzouningen dropped down low and swung a kick at Amara's legs, sweeping her feet from underneath her. However, Amara did a midair handspring to right herself, though while doing so, she fired a quick burst of blue-white energy. She had hoped to both catch the cyborg off guard and drive her back.

It worked.

Although Juuhachi-gou had dodged the energy blast by leaping backwards, it left her wide-open as Amara quickly rushed in and headbutted the blonde woman in the face. While she rocked backwards, the Princess dashed back in to deliver more punishment. Amara came down in a arc on Juuhachi-gou, driving both feet into her into her midsection with a dropkick, and as she doubled over Amara followed up with a flipping bicycle kick in midair, sending Juuhachi-gou smashing into the rock-face of a nearby mesa. Thrusting out her hands forward, Amara pulverized the rock structure with ki bolt after ki bolt until it shattered, raining down over the Jinzouningen in a shower of rocks. But Amara still wasn't finished; tendrils of power already gathered into her hands as she cupped them in front of her chest.

"This time, you're dead! COSMIC INFLATION ATTACK!" Amara bellowed, bringing her hands together to fire an enormous blast of blue, crackling energy at the rubble. The Saiyajin Princess watched in wicked delight when her attack hit the small mountain of rocks and exploded on contact, shaking the landscape. For a short time, Amara stared wide-eyed at the mushroom-shaped smoke afterimage left behind. Then she let out a boisterous whoop of triumph.

"Yes...Yes, I did it!" she exclaimed, her face twisted in deadly, Saiyajin joy.

"Don't gloat so prematurely." Amara looked over at Vegeta when she heard him.

"What was that, Vegeta?"

"That Jinzouningen isn't dead just yet," Vegeta said, his voice calm. "Just being a Super Saiyajin isn't enough to beat the likes of her."

Amara gave her brother a scathing glare. "You're wrong! I hit her with my finishing move, there's no way she could have-"

_"You really should listen to your brother sometimes." _

Amara pivoted and stared, aghast, when she saw Juuhachi-gou standing in the center of the pile of rocks, unscathed, except for a little dirt on her clothes. Juuhachi-glowered back at the Saiyajin woman, eyes burning with frigid anger.

"No! You can't still be alive!" she said in disbelief, lips pulling back in a snarl and fists clenching in anger.

"Well, I am, but I can't say the same about you for much long!" Juuhachi-gou replied.

Moving when it seemed like she didn't at all, Juuhachi-gou had closed the distance between them and struck her solidly in the jaw with a wicked punch. Although the blow didn't take her off her feet, it did turn her sharply around, giving her opponent the chance to take her off her feet with a chop block. Before Amara could hit the ground, Juuhachi-gou caught her from underneath with a kick to the back, sending the Princess sprawling hard across the earth. A half mile later, Amara had finally slowed to a stop, resting in the trench her body had dug.

There was no time to rest after she recovered, even for a second, as Juuhachi-gou advanced on her again. Amara rolled to the side, just narrowly avoiding another right from Juuhachi-gou, her fist smashing into the earth instead. Noticing she was stuck, Amara spun on one hand and aimed a roundhouse kick at Juu's head, as she had done her years ago. Juuhachi-gou moved quicker, however, freeing her arm out of the earth to join them both together in a cross to block the strike. Pushing away from each other, the two women hurriedly flipped back onto their feet and flew in to resume their battle right away.

FLASH! FLASH!

Vegeta took his eyes off the fight after immediately sensing the two familiar kis making a beeline towards that exact location. He watched stonily as both Gohan and Kuririn dropped out of the sky moments later, and the two quickly rushed over to Piccolo. They were horrified at the condition they found him in. He humphed at the two and turned his attentions back towards the fight.

"Piccolo-san! Piccolo-san! Speak to me!" Gohan cried, shaking his friend and fighting master.

Piccolo coughed, and he started to come to. Both Gohan and Kuririn stared down in equal relief.

"Stop yelling in my ear, Gohan!" Piccolo snapped. "If you haven't forgotten, mine's a lot more sensitive than yours!"

Both Gohan and Kuririn exchanged amused chuckles.

"Yeah, Piccolo's all right, all right," Kuririn said.

"Piccolo, how did this happen? And who is that woman fighting with Juuhachi-gou-san?" Gohan asked, turning at the end of his second question when he finally became aware of the battle going on.

"As soon as I get through regenerating-if the cyborg girl doesn't handle it by then, she's a dead woman is what she is!" Piccolo promised furiously.

"Whoa! Is that woman another Super Saiyajin? And why is she fighting Juuhachi-gou?" Kuririn wondered. "So she's that huge ki we sensed earlier."

Gohan's expression suddenly came very serious. "Well, whatever vendetta she has against Juuhachi-gou, I don't care. She has to pay for what she did!"

"Huh?-wait, Gohan!" Kuririn said, watching helplessly as Gohan transformed and suddenly rocketed away into the air.

Meanwhile, up in the air again, Amara was now lashing out at Juuhachi-gou with her Energy Sword, and Juuhachi-gou avoided each strike. Amara backed away to put some space between them, and then grinned. Growling in frustration, Amara started to move back in-

-then Gohahn materalized in front of her.

"G-Gohan?" Juuhachi-gou asked, giving him a questioning look

Hastily halting herself, Amara gawped at the youth that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

_"What! Th-this boy...this boy is a Super Saiyajin!"_ she wondered in astonishment.

"You're the one who hurt Piccolo-san, aren't you?" Gohan accused.

"Piccolo?" she echoed the unfamiliar name, puzzled. A cold grin spread her lips as comprehension suddenly hit her. "Ah, you speak of the Namekseijin, child? Well maybe if he hadn't gotten in my way, he wouldn't be sprawled in a pool of his own blood right now," the Saiyajin no Oujo told him. "I don't know what pocket dimension you just crawled out of, boy, but if you know what's good for you, you'll get the hell out of my way at once!"

Gohan was unimpressed with Amara's subsequent threat. He sensed the Saiyajin woman's power and frankly she just didn't compare to his standards, even in her Super Saiyajin form. He unsurprisingly didn't flinch when Amara had bared her teeth in irritation when he hadn't moved as she'd ordered

"Well, if you won't move," she stated, as she menacingly lifted her left hand, "then I'll move you myself!" Following those words, a green-white ki blast was flung at Gohan. Dark eyes snapped wide, as Gohan deflected the beam with simple ease.

Amara was very angry now. There was no way she would allow herself to be upstaged by some mere Saiyan child! With a shout of rage, she charged, swinging with her Energy Sword. To her dismay, Gohan ducked Amara's Energy Sword and punched her in the stomach. The strike was nowhere near as hard as it could have been, but still hard enough to send the Princess sailing earthward.

As she did plunged from the sky, a stunned Amara managed to think, *_Unbelievable! That brat...that brat defeated me with one blow!*_

Moving so fast, Amara couldn't see where she was going, only that she was about to make an ugly crash on the ground. Though actually, she was heading straight toward Kuririn. It was a moment later when the short warrior noticed this. Panicking, Kuririn tried to run away, but he only ended up running unintentional circles. Then, Amara collided into him, and the two hit the ground together, whipping up rock fragments and dust.

"Man, I'm going to feel that tomorrow," Kuririn groaned, as he started to revive. Beneath him, a soft moan emanated from Amara as she too, was starting to come to. Recovering most of their bearings, both Kuririn and Amara looked up at the same time, meeting each other's eyes. It was then that the two noticed the very awkward position they had fallen into. While Kuririn blushed and looked sheepish, Amara looked unbelievably furious.

"W-wait! It's not what you think!" Kuririn tried to tell her.

"Get off me!" she shouted, before promptly kicking the bald warrior off her. Rising back to her feet, Amara heard Kuririn crash somewhere nearby, but she ignored him. Wasting no time, Amara immediately went after Gohan.

Amara was halfway there to Gohan, when suddenly...Juuhachi-gou reappeared between her and the half-Saiyajin, looking coldly furious. There was no time for the Saiyajin to react at all. With a battle cry, Juuhachi-gou rushed in at blurring speed and caught the princess in the face with a spinning wheel kick, the force of the strike sent her rushing towards the earth again. At the very last second, she grabbed onto whatever momentum she could and flipped herself over to alight in a crouching position. Unable to hold onto her transformation any longer, she regressed back into her base form.

The Saiyajin no Ouji stared over at the cloud of dust and dirt Amara's impact had made with rage and mild disgrace. He snarled to himself as he started remembering he was in the same predicament years ago and was almost butchered by Kuririn.

Abruptly, a blonde-haired form touched down in front of Amara. Amara immediately rose her head...and paused at once when she found Juuhachi-gou aimed at her face, energy already gathered around her fingers. Nearby, the others watched with varying expressions.

Amara looked up at the cyborg. "So, it's going to end up like this huh?" she said with a small laugh, knowing she was dead this time.

Without words, Juuhachi-gou fired. Amara closed her eyes as she was going to meet her untimely doom head on just any Saiyajin, however to her utter surprise Juuhachi-gou didn't hit her with the blast. She hit a boulder behind her, blasting it into nothingness.

"N-nanda?" Vegeta stammered out in shock.

Amara reopened her eyes and turned a startled gaze on the silent Jinzouningen. "W-why? Again, why do you let me live?" the Saiyajin woman asked, very puzzled. "What's with this soft act?"

"Well, you caught me on a good day," the cyborg replied, lowering her hand. Her expression then hardened. "Now get the hell out of my sight before my change my mind!"

The Saiyajin slowly got up to her feet and brushed the dirt off her armor, all the while staring at her opponent distrustfully and spitefully. She glared balefully at the Jinzouningen while she slowly, carefully, stood back up to her feet.

"Don't even begin to think this over with, Jinzouningen!" Amara hissed. "I swear it, on my life as the Saiyajin Princess, I'll get you for this! I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I do!"

Moments later, the Attack Ball was lifting off the ground and rocketing away, carrying the defeated Amara off the planet. Juuhachi-gou watched the disappearing pod impassively. Meanwhile, Gohan and Kuririn were standing by Piccolo, who'd finally just regenerated his lost limbs.

_*I really am getting soft,* _Juuhachi-gou thought, unconsciously brushing a strand of hair out of her face and decided that now it was time for her to take her leave. So she spun around and walked off.

By a coincidence, the way Juuhachi-gou was walking in was the same direction Vegeta was in. As she drew closer toward him, she could see that puzzled look he gave her, like she was someone else. When she had got directly by Vegeta-

"You should've killed her..." he said.

"What!" Juuhachi-gou replied, her eyes flicking in his direction in surprise. It sounded as if he didn't care if she had've killed his flesh and blood.

But Vegeta said nothing else, as he suddenly leaped into the air and flew off.

Juuhachi-gou stood where she was, staring blankly at his diminishing form for a long time.

* * *

Once again, Amara found herself travelling through space cursing Juuhachi-gou's name. It was just like that first time four years ago, only her whole body was aching all over this time. Dammit all! Things definitely didn't go the way she had hoped. Despite all that training she'd done over the years just to prepare herself for her second confrontation with Juuhachi-gou, despite obtaining the legendary power of her people, the dimensions between were still that far apart. What made the situation even worse was that her brother was there to witness her shameful loss this time.

_"Just being a Super Saiyajin isn't enough to beat the likes of her."_

_*What had Vegeta meant by that?* _she asked herself. _*The Super Saiyajin is supposed to be the strongest of all powers in the galaxy, yet I still couldn't beat Juuhachi-gou even before that boy showed up. Is there something I'm still missing?* _

The scowl on her face deepened, as memories of her encounter with the Super Saiyajin boy, and how he had took her down in just one punch, rose unbidden in her mind. _*And who the hell was that boy? How could someone as young as him become a Super Saiyajin? _What she did know was that he definitely wasn't Vegeta's whelp, neither was he Nappa's child nor Raditz's; and from what she smelled of him, he was also a mixed blood, which made the whole incident that more humiliating for the Princess. So, another Saiyajin had been off the planet when Furiiza attacked that day. But who could it have...

_A young Amara was staring out the porthole of a ship, trying her hardest to remind herself that Saiyajin warriors did not cry. Even if they do witness the destruction of everyone and everything she had ever known. She would never see her father or her big brother ever again. She was all alone in this big, harsh universe, the last of her kind... _

_A tear escaped and rolled down her face, then another one, and another one. Amara quickly put a stop to this by rubbing at her eyes furiously with the back of her right hand. As she lowered her hand and looked back up, Amara's expression lit up in surprise when she saw an Attack Ball flying by Kuura's ship, close enough for her to get a quick glance of who exactly was inside. The pod's only occupant was actually a spiky-haired and naked infant, sleeping away as he was carried off to his mission._

_The princess's eyes widened even more after the ship had passed on by. She knew that infant! He was the one who had recently been born with a miserable power level of 1. What had his name been? Oh, yes...Kakarott... _

Amara's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as the memory faded, hit hard with realization. But right afterwards, the Saiyajin no Oujo was brought out of her state of astonishment when a low hum, accompanied by a reddish glow, started to emanate from the small side compartment of the pod. Reaching inside, she fished out a small, crimson ruby, flashing continuously. It could only mean one thing to her...one very bad thing.

"Oh, no!" she gasped in dismay, "That fiend has escaped!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	4. Not So Different

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Chapter Four: Not So Different**

* * *

"Bulma-chan, are you sure you have everything?" Mrs. Briefs was asking Monday morning, two days later. She, her husband, and Juuhachi-gou were standing outside in the front of Capsule Corporation, and sitting in front of them on the hood of an aircar was Bulma.

"Yes, it would be a shame if you suddenly remember you forgot something while you were on your trip," Dr. Briefs added, holding a cigarette in one hand.

"Yes, yes. I packed everything I needed," Bulma answered with a mock sigh and roll of the eyes. She looked over at Juuhachi-gou. "Do you see that? I'm 34 years old and they still treat me like a little kid at times."

Juuhachi-gou smirked faintly.

"Well, as your parents, it's our job to make sure you're always prepared," Mrs. Briefs replied. "You'll understand when you become a parent yourself."

As Bulma continued to chat away with her parents, imperceptibly Juuhachi-gou's eyes brows furrowed together. Parents. She knew her and Juunana-gou had human parents out there somewhere, but with no memories of them they had never bothered to go seek them out. Were they even alive? She supposed the answer to that would always be a mystery that would never be solved. She supposed that technically, Dr. Gero was her parent since he was the one who 'created' her, however, Juuhachi-gou would detonate the self-destruct bomb built inside her before she ever identified that bastard as her father.

Bulma let out a growl of impatience as she checked her watch.

"That Yamucha! It's taking him THIS long to find the car keys?" she wondered. "Sometimes I think that man would lose his head if it wasn't connected to his shoulders."

Mrs. Briefs giggled. "He sounds just like your father."

Beside her, her husband looked sheepish. Sitting on his usual perch on Dr. Briefs' right shoulder, Tama the Cat sensed his master's discomfort and nuzzled his neck comfortingly with his nose. Dr. Briefs petted him affectionately with his free hand.

"So, the trip you're taking with Yamucha will be your honeymoon, correct?" Juuhachi-gou inquired.

Raising her head, Bulma smiled at her friend and nodded.

"We were supposed to do this three years ago-that's when we got married," she explained. Bulma shrugged her shoulders. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to go on a proper one when we first got married, so now we're making up for it. But hey, a late honeymoon is better than no honeymoon, ne?" Bulma suddenly beamed hugely. "He's taking me to the Papaya Islands, and we'll be staying there for a few days." Frowning, she deliberately added loudly, "That is, if someone ever HURRIES up!"

Juuhachi-gou sweatdropped.

"Oh, Bulma, I remember when your father and I went on our honeymoon," Mrs. Briefs said, clapping her hands together as she looked back on fond, cherished memories. "We had such a wonderful time, didn't we honey?"

Dr. Briefs nodded.

"Hey, have either of you seen Vegeta?" Bulma inquired abruptly. "He wasn't training inside the ship when I passed by earlier, and he always go there after breakfast."

"Hm. That is strange," Dr. Briefs thought.

"I hope Vegeta-san's all right," Mrs. Briefs said with a pinch of worry in her voice.

"I think I saw him lurking around somewhere earlier," Juuhachi-gou answered apathetically, frowning faintly, "but I can't say for certain. I wasn't really wasn't paying that much attention."

"You really don't like him, huh?" Bulma asked observantly.

"Hmph!" Juuhachi-gou replied, looking away. That mere sound said more than enough.

"Vegeta can be a grouch, that's for sure," Bulma said, "but sometimes I bet that deep down, he's probably a nice guy. That's just how his type is."

Juuhachi-gou looked at Bulma as if she had just transformed into a horrible beast.

"That man! Nice!" the younger woman asked incredulously. "You must be kidding!"

"Bulma's right," Mrs. Briefs said. "I believe Vegeta-san is a little misunderstood. Underneath his tough exterior, he's really just a very lonely person. You know, in that way, Juuhachi-gou-san, I think you two are just alike."

Juuhachi-gou stared at the older woman in surprise. Before she could even begin to wrap her mind around what Mrs. Briefs just said, Yamucha came walking out the house, with Puar perched on his shoulder.

"Hey, Bulma, I found the keys!" Yamucha announced, waving the keys around as proof.

"Well, it's about time!" Bulma replied. "Now come on, it's time for us to get going."

A short while later, Bulma's parents and Puar were standing outside, waving goodbye to Bulma and Yamucha as they took off for their trip. Standing nearby, Juuhachi-gou watched without a response. She was still thinking about the conversation she had just had with both Bulma and her mother. Without making the slightest of sounds, Juuhachi-gou slipped back inside the house while the others were still facing the other way.

* * *

Had anyone bothered to check Vegeta's bedroom, they would have known that the Prince was currently inside. He was stretched out on his bed, his arms folded behind the back of his head, gazing up at the ceiling. Today, he had decided to forgo his usual Saiyajin armor to wear a more humanly attire of a black tanktop and white pants.

Vegeta almost absently sensed the ki of Yamucha and as well as Bulma's much weaker one leaving the compound, moving further and further away. That's right, they were off on something Earthlings referred to as a 'honeymoon' to some place with a name he really didn't pay attention to remember. Well, whatever the name was, at least that was two annoyances he wouldn't have to listen to for a while. Then again, he had things on his mind much more important than the loud-mouthed, blue-haired woman and her scar-faced mate.

Such as his sister suddenly appearing before him for the first time in over thirty years.

Amara.

All this time, he had thought she had been dead. The last time he had saw her, it was the day before Furiiza destroyed everything. On that treacherous day, he never saw her once, and during that brief last moment he had with his father, when he asked where she was, his father had suspiciously ignored him and stalked off to meet his fate. So, naturally he had just accepted she must have died and didn't think about her again. But then two days ago, she appeared out of nowhere, just as alive as he was, and some time during their years apart, she had gained the ability to transform into a Super Saiyajin.

_She glanced over at Vegeta. "Brother, remember what you and father would tell me? That I would never become a Super Saiyajin because I was a female? Well, both of you, behold as I join the legendary status of the Saiyajin...Super Saiyajin!"_

A hint of a smirk played across his lips, as he recalled her bitter words at him. It was true, both he and their father had told her that. From the day Amara had been born, her potential as a warrior had rivalled his own, and just like he did when he was still a kid, Amara had been well on her way to surpassing their father. But in spite of all of that, Vegeta had believed it was utterly impossible for her to become a Super Saiyajin, because nowhere in the legends surrounding the godlike Super Saiyajin did it say the Super Saiyajin was female.

But apparently, he had been proven wrong. Then again, after becoming a Super Saiyajin himself, maybe he shouldn't be so surprised that his sister became one. To obtain that type power, it took a certain amount of rage and a pure heart, whether it was a pure heart of good or a pure heart of evil. And it seemed like Amara had somewhat of the same kind of motivation he had, only she was trying to become strong enough to defeat the Jinzouningen.

The fact that his sister and Juuhachi-gou crossed paths in the first place was interesting enough. A smirk of amusement suddenly slid across Vegeta's face. He hoped the Jinzouningen was ready. There was a reason why he had told her she should have finished Amara off, because now she's gained an enemy that would keep hounding her and hounding her until she finally grasped victory. That was how dogmatic his sibling could be. It was just like he was when it came to him surpassing Kakarott and getting his revenge.

Things definitely weren't going to be boring from now on, that was for certain.

Momentarily, Vegeta got out of his bed and moved over to his window. Looking down, his black eyes landed on the spaceship in the backyard, which housed his gravity chamber. Vegeta scowled.

How long had it been since he last actually trained? That's right, it was the day after his son had returned to his own time that he completely stopped, after he was forced to realize that his rival was dead for good. Because of that, he had stopped believing that there really was a reason for him to train anymore, since the thrill of trying to surpass his enemy was completely gone now.

Almost immediately after that thought crossed his mind, a realization came to him. While Kakarott was no longer around, there was still his son to consider. Although Vegeta didn't particularly see Gohan has a rival, even with his ability to transform into a Super Saiyajin Two, it was just the mere idea that a child possessed that much greater strength than him.

Even though Kakarott was gone, could he really let that go? Could he really just stand by and accept that Son Gohan was also stronger than him?

Vegeta didn't think about that question for long. Of course he couldn't! He was the Prince of the Saiyajin, and he wouldn't allow himself to be outstripped in power by some child. And now that he thought about it, he was pretty certain that the boy's father would also take advantage of his time in the afterlife to try and surpass that level of power as well.

That infamous smirk of Vegeta's split his face in half, his fiery pride and soul renewed as he now saw that he did still have a purpose in life, and was the same as it had always been. Training hard to exceed Kakarott's strength, but at the same surpass his kid as well.

"Looks like the game is still on," he murmured. "I won't let you win so easily, Kakarott! You or that boy of yours!"

Shortly, Vegeta was inside his exercise chamber in the ship, clad in nothing but a pair of black shorts, socks and shoes, with his hair bleached gold and his eyes turquoise. His battle cries echoed all over the room as he sparred viciously with invisible enemies, his blood thrumming with anticipation now that he once again had a goal in life.

* * *

While most were taking advantage of yet another nice, unclouded, June day. However, one person who wasn't so inclined to revel in the Monday morning sunshine was one Son Chichi. And what did she really have to be joyous for? Just because it was another beautiful day? Hardly! It was days like this that it could fool anyone into believing that everything would go smooth and perfect, that nothing awful could possibly go wrong. It had fooled her on many occasions.

Ha! It had been a beautiful day when her husband had suddenly been stricken with a fatal heart disease; not to mention when he'd also went to go fight that horrible monster Cell, but ended up getting himself killed again in the process for the sake of her and all the rest of his loved ones. And it had also been a beautiful day when some strange Saiyajin woman showed up causing trouble, which had forced Gohan to get involved. The daughter of the Ox King refused to allow herself to be deceived by the loveliness of the weather ever again.

The dark-haired woman didn't even hum like she used to as she hung wet clothes on the clothesline to be dried by the sun, moving uncharacteristically robotlike. And just what was there for her to hum about it? While she still had her son, and her father continued to make his usual visits, her husband was...her husband was gone for good this time and was never coming back.

Acting quickly before she started crying again, Chichi resolutely focused her mind back on her chore. She knew crying wouldn't bring him back, so what was really the point of her even doing it? Dende knows she's been crying a whole lot as of late.

A short while later, Chichi had finally finished hanging up the last of the laundry. Absentmindedly, she reached down and picked up the empty basket, then headed back inside the house. However, Chichi paused at the threshold of the backdoor to steady of herself when a wave of nausea hit her suddenly. It thankfully passed without her having to rush to the bathroom to vomit. That was something else that had been happening to her lately; she'd been having a lot of nausea spells, some so worse that she retched until her throat was raw, and as well as some dizzy spells and getting fatigued a lot easier.

_*I hope I'm not catchin' anything fatal,*_ Chichi thought half-absently, half-worriedly as she closed the door behind her. _*Nothin' can't happen to me now, I'm the only one Gohan has left! He needs me, I can't leave him! I won't leave him!* _She glared at the room in general, challenging destiny to try to take her from her baby.

She was hoping that Dr. Kato would hurry up and call so she could learn the results of the tests he ran on her. Worried about her strange spells, she went to the doctor a week ago, without Gohan or anyone else knowing, to get herself checked out. After he'd examined her, he'd told her to go home and rest, and that he'd call her as soon as the results came back in. Of course, she'd done anything but follow the doctor's order. After all, if she had, Gohan would've known something was wrong with her sooner or later, and she didn't want him to get worried over her when he should have his worries on his studies.

It was a testament to how important she thought him getting an good education was.

Chichi loved her husband dearly, and was glad to see that her son was going to grow up into strong man like him-no, even stronger, but she didn't want him to do nothing but train and fight all the time like Goku had. She wanted her son to make something out of himself, and as long as there was breath in her body, she was going to make sure he did just that.

Momentarily, the phone started ringing in the living room. Even before she could place the basket down and go see who it was, she could hear Gohan yelling that he would answer it.

"Moshi, moshi, Son's Residence. Gohan speaking." No matter how down she was feeling, Chichi couldn't help to smile proudly at the good manners her son had displayed. She really had raised him well. Just as she had stepped into her living room, Gohan turned to her and said, "Hey, Mom, it's for you. It's Dr. Kato."

"Dr. Kato-san? Thank goodness!" Chichi quickly ran over to Gohan and took the phone from his hand.

The person on the other end answered, "Good afternoon, Son-san. I'm glad I caught you."

"Hello, Dr. Kato-san!" Chichi said, sounding as relieved as she felt for hearing his voice on the phone. "Is this about my checkup? I haven't come down with anything have I?"

"Huh? Check-up?" Gohan repeated, looking nonplussed. This was the first time he'd heard about his Mom going to see a doctor. Frowning, he listened in on this conversation a lot more closely.

Dr. Kato chuckled on the other end of the line. "Well...as a matter of fact you have come down with _something_."

Chichi looked appalled at the news. "Oh, no! I was afraid of this!"

"Okaasan? Is something the matter?" Gohan asked, very worried now; he knew Chichi hadn't been feeling well as of late, so her fretful exclamation wasn't very promising.

The doctor chuckled again, which made Chichi frown down at the receiver. Her well-being was nothing to be laughing about!

"Relax, Son-san, what you got isn't fatal or life-threatening or anything like that," Dr. Kato assured her. "In fact, what you got should go away in the next eight months."

"What?" Chichi replied, taken off guard when the doctor said the words "eight months". The way the doctor said that made a creeping suspicion grow in her mind, but she didn't dare believe what she was thinking was possible. It couldn't be, could it? If she was pregnant, surely she would've noticed it about now...right? Though now that she thought about it, the symptoms of her strange spells in the past few weeks were certainly pointing towards, eating a lot more than she usually did...

"Congratulations, Son-san! You're going to have a baby!" Dr. Kato told her excitedly. "And if you would like, I could set up an appointment for you later on this week so you can...Son-san?" Dr. Kato had broke off in his chatter when he suddenly heard an audible thud on the other side of the phone, followed by worried voice of Gohan calling out to her.

Chichi had fainted on the other end of the phone.

* * *

On the back of Capsule Corporation, the door that sealed off the balcony suddenly slid open, and out came Juuhachi-gou. Walking over to the railing, she crossed her arms and leaned on it, a slight crease in her eyebrows. Bulma's parents were having tea and invited her to have some with them, however, Juuhachi-gou had declined, saying she was going to her to room. But at the last second, she changed her mind and came out there to think.

_"Bulma's right," Mrs. Briefs said. "I believe Vegeta-san is a little misunderstood. Underneath his tough exterior, he's really just a very lonely person. You know, in that way, Juuhachi-gou-san, I think you two are just alike."_

Juuhachi-gou's frown strengthened at the memory of Mrs. Briefs' comments regarding Vegeta and her. That had been a short while ago, but even now she couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of her being compared to Vegeta, or the implications from it. Juuhachi-gou knew that Bulma's mother really meant no harm when she said, however, it was still annoying. What made the older woman such an expert on her all of a sudden? She, or anyone else in that house for that matter, didn't know her at all, and yet Mrs. Briefs thought she knew what was going on in her head.

Lonely?...The furrow in Juuhachi-gou's brows lessened very slightly. Well, okay, maybe Bulma's mother wasn't so far off with that opinion as Juuhachi-gou first thought. Yes, she would admit (though only to herself) that she was lonely now that she both Juunana-gou and Juuroku-gou were gone.

Juuhachi-gou smiled vaguely at the thought of her brother and their silent companion. It seemed like only yesterday when the three of them had joined up together in hot pursuit of Son Goku. She also recalled that tacky, pink van her driving-addicted twin had made them ride in. Even now, she still thought it was ridiculous to drive after their common target when flying would get them there much quicker. Though she knew her brother only made that decisions because he thought no matter how fast they reached Son Goku, there would be nothing for him or any of his comrades to do to stop them. She had assumed the same spite of it all, it had been fun. With just the three of them, like a family on a road trip. Just her and her two brothers...

Abruptly, Juuhachi-gou's expression turned positively cold, the frigidness in her eyes returning stronger than ever as she glared down at the spherical object down below. She could even hear him training inside. Yes, she was lonely without Juunana-gou and Juuroku-gou, but be that as it may, she wasn't THAT lonely that she needed to talk to someone so badly. She didn't know about Vegeta, but life wasn't that disheartening for her.

_*No, neither is it for Vegeta either, I'm positive of it,* _she thought. After all, Vegeta was a even more unsociable creature by nature than she was. The young woman grimaced in displeasure. _*In that sense, I guess me and that bastard really aren't completely different.*_

It was strange to her. As much as she disliked Vegeta, she could read him almost easily. He was a proud, stubborn arrogant man who let his over-inflated ego get him into fair share amount of trouble. He was basically a big fool. That was why she just didn't agree with Bulma's opinion that deep down Vegeta was a nice guy. The idea was cretinous, really!

_*A nice person wouldn't have done what he did,* _she thought infuriatedly. That old familiar anger flowed through her briefly, at the memory of practically handing her over to Cell. She would never forgive or forget that!

No, there was nothing nice about Vegeta at all! Absolutely nothing at all!

As Juuhachi-gou turned and went back inside, a sudden thought crossed her mind.

_*If there was nothing nice about him, then why? What brought Koji's real parents, Vegeta and the woman that used to be me together?*_

She had always dried to ignore it, but this was a burning question that had always been at the back of her mind ever since she had been told the shocking truth several days ago. What could have...

KAAAABOOOOMMMM!

Juuhachi-gou's line of thinking was interrupted when right in front of her eyes, Vegeta's exercise chamber went up in a loud burst of fire. The concussive air of the explosion sent a tremor through the building, though the cyborg barely felt it. She was still staring wide-eyed, shocked, watching as burning debris scattered all across the backyard.

Almost absently, Juuhachi-gou leapt over the side of the balcony, not caring if she was more than two storeys away from the ground. Landing neatly on her feet, she darted over to inspect the damage. Luckily, the flames hadn't caught onto anything and made things even worse, and was pretty much dying out on their own. While she noticed that, she also noticed something else...Vegeta was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	5. When Forces of Nature Collide

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Author's Note: With this story taking place in a AU, and since Vegeta isn't with Bulma in this story, I decided to add the scene of his gravity machine blowing up in this chapter. And when he wakes up, it won't be Bulma he finds in the room with him. **

**Warning: Mature situation in this chapter, though nothing graphic. **

**Chapter Five: When Forces of Nature Collide**

* * *

Right after they had heard the explosion, Bulma's parents and Puar hastily rushed outside the house to see what the commotion was all about. Juuhachi-gou saw them out the corner of her eye, watching as they skidded to a halt to gape in horror at the pile of wreckage that littered the ground, still steaming with smoke.

"Juuhachi-gou-san! What's going on here?" Mrs. Briefs exclaimed.

Juuhachi-gou frowned. She hoped Bulma's mother wasn't trying to blame this on her.

"I don't know," she answered. "It just detonated so suddenly."

"Something must have malfunctioned in the ship to cause it to detonate like this," Dr. Briefs conjectured, looking worried as well.

"You don't think Vegeta-san was inside it, do you?" Puar squeaked.

Both Mrs. Briefs and Dr. Briefs gasped in dismay; that fear had been in the back of their minds ever since they discovered the source of the explosion. Juuhachi on the other hand was rather indifferent as she knew Vegeta had been training inside when the explosion happened. Still, as she looked back towards the wreckage, her pale brows creased together as she couldn't help but to wonder if the Saiyajin Prince really was-

In the next moment, everyone heard a new noise and quickly turned towards it. A good chunk of rubble was moving, and then to their surprise, Vegeta exploded out from under it.

"Vegeta!" everyone exclaimed in astoundment.

The Prince of the Saiyajin didn't look too well. He had lacerations all over his well-muscled torso, with blood trickling down both sides of his mouth, and his vision seriously distorted. He looked like he could barely stand, however, as proud of a man as Vegeta was, he wouldn't even acknowledge that. Soon, Vegeta's eyesight snapped back into focus and he immediately noticed the others staring at him. Glaring at them all in equal cold exasperation, Vegeta straightened himself, balling his fists.

"W-what in the hell are you all gawking at?" he demanded.

"Vegeta, you're hurt," Dr. Briefs told him as he approached. "Come inside so we can get you some treatment."

"Treatment?" Vegeta repeated, looking affronted. When Dr. Briefs tried to grab his arm, Vegeta roughly snatched it away. "Get away from me, fool!"

The force of the movement almost made Bulma's father fall over, but Juuhachi-gou moved quickly behind him to catch him.

"Oh, my! Thank you, Juuhachi-gou-san," Dr. Briefs said gratefully, as she helped stand all the way up.

Juuhachi-gou briefly favored him a glance, before she glowered scathingly at Vegeta.

"You idiot!" she berated. "He was only trying to help you. Why he would want to, I don't know."

Vegeta started to sway on his feet, alternating in and out of consciousness. With a snarl, Vegeta shook his head to regain control of himself, and scowled angrily the Jinzouningen.

"M-mind your own business...artificial doll!" he hissed. "I don't need anyone's help! I can still walk on my own too feet."

"Oh, Vegeta-san," Mrs. Briefs murmured, staring at the Saiyajin warrior with great sympathy.

Vegeta tried to suit words into action. He took a total of two steps in her direction...then he completely faded out of consciousness and started to fall forward. Reflexively, Juuhachi-gou reached up to catch him before he could fall, carefully lowering them both down to their knees. Vegeta was completely out cold, his head resting on her left shoulder while his face was buried in the crook of Juuhachi-gou's neck.

Juuhachi-gou looked down at unmoving warrior in a mix of confusion and shock. Why? Why did she just catch Vegeta just then? Why didn't she just let him fall face-first on the ground? She...wasn't actually showing concern for him was she? The blonde woman quickly shook her head. No, she chalked all of this up to Vegeta standing right in front of her and she only acted on pure instinct to catch him so he wouldn't fall on her. Simultaneously, she tried not to pay attention to the way how perfectly his body molded itself against hers or how warm it was, or how sinewy his muscles were.

"Will he be all right?" Puar asked, as she and Mrs. Briefs came over.

"Vegeta-san will be okay," Dr. Briefs assured them. "He's just unconscious right now, but we really should get him some treatment. Juuhachi-gou-san, could you please help with carrying Vegeta-san to the medic room so we can heal his wounds."

Juuhachi-gou looked up at Dr. Briefs, surprised that he would ask her such a question. Then she looked back down at Vegeta in cold scorn. *_Wretched Saiyajin; it serves you right. If only you could see how pitiful and weak you look right now, Vegeta. I should just leave you where you lay and let you die, especially after what you did to me. But…_

Juuhachi-gou turned to Dr. Briefs again and nodded. "Okay."

* * *

_"Where in all the cosmos am I?" Vegeta asked some time later, when found himself standing alone in a strange, pitch-black world. It was as if someone had tossed him in a bottle of black ink while he was looking away for a moment. For as far as his eye could see, all he saw was darkness and more darkness. Other than himself, there were no other features to break the blackness. It looked neverending. _

_Where was he? How did he get there? He recalled training inside his gravity room one minute, then in the next he was standing here. It just didn't make any sense at all. _

_"Looking for something, Vegeta?" a voice- a very familiar one-suddenly asked. _

_Whirling quickly, Vegeta saw that he wasn't imagining things when he'd heard Gohan's voice. The young boy stood right before him, standing in a column of pale light, and donning the gi suit he'd requested Piccolo to give him. But there was something off about him, Vegeta noticed right away. Ever since he'd come into contact with Gohan from the time he was only a small boy, the only expressions Vegeta was familiar on Gohan were irritating cheerfulness, sadness, fear, and even rage. However, one he's never seen on his face was the look of pure malice he was seeing right now, and it startled him. _

_"G-Gohan?" he said stammered. _

_"Looking for something, Vegeta?" Gohan asked again, his voice flavored with uncharacteristic disdain. "Well, I think I know exactly what it is. This!" _

_On that note, Gohan clenched his fists, flung his head back and screamed to the sky above. Power exploded brilliantly around the half-Saiyajin, lighting up the seemingly everlasting black world and blinding Vegeta, who reflexively threw out an arm to block out the light from his eyes. When he could see again, that seemingly permanent scowl on his face vanished completely, replaced by shocked astonishment as Gohan stood before now as a Super Saiyajin Two, glowing like a beacon in the darkness. Almost looking the way he did when he fought Cell, except for that horrible smile of his that seemed so wrong for his face. _

_"This is what you're looking for, isn't it Vegeta?" Gohan taunted. "The true powers of a Beyond Super Saiyajin. But you'll never have them. You aren't worthy of such power!" _

_That brought back the scowl on Vegeta's face, his eyes narrowing coldly on the glowing teen. "Conceited brat! You're wrong! I am the Prince of the Saiyajin, and if YOU, a half-breed, can obtain that power, then so can I!" _

_"Yeah, but not without nearly killing yourself, right?" sneered a new, yet very familiar, voice. _

_Turning back around, another column of light had managed to penetrate through the darkness and touched down on the black ground before him, but standing inside it was definitely a person he didn't expect to see again. _

_"Kakarott!"_

_"In the flesh," Kakarott responded; however, like Gohan, he had an atypical malefic smirk stamped on his face. And just like Gohan, his rival was in the form of a Super Saiyajin Two, a sight that turned Vegeta's stomach. _

_"What is the meaning of all this?" Vegeta demanded, glaring suspiciously at Kakarott, then back at Gohan, and back at Kakarott again. _

_All of a sudden, both Kakarott and Gohan burst in laughter, the pure wickedness of it seeming to echo all over the place. It made Vegeta feel very uneasy._

_"Why are you two laughing?" Vegeta growled frustratedly. "I sure as hell don't see anything funny!" _

_"What's funny is how pathetic you are," said Gohan sneeringly. _

_"What was that?" Vegeta bellowed, rounding on the teenager with fire in his eyes. _

_"Poor little Vegeta-san," mocked Kakarott. "You do all that endless training inside your little Gravity Room, and yet you're always still a step behind me in a power, and always will be. You can't even touch Gohan now. Tell me, Prince of the Saiyajin, do you ask yourself sometimes why you even bother?" _

_Vegeta looked utterly affronted now. He had no idea what had gotten into the father and son, but he wasn't about to stand there and be mocked. So what if they were Super Saiyajin Two!_

_"Kono yarou! I'll show you!" Vegeta shouted. With a roar, he shifted to Super Saiyajin and charged straight at Kakarott, his fists balled at his sides. Upon reaching the lower-classed Saiyajin, Vegeta unleashed a series of earth-shattering lefts and rights that sharply jerked the younger Saiyajin's head to either side. As Vegeta pulled back briefly to inspect his work, Kakarott slowly turned his head back toward him, and simply, crookedly simpered at him. Vegeta gasped. _

_"Pitiful," Kakarott scoffed. Then, faster than Vegeta could anticipate it, Kakarott lashed out and caught him in the abdomen with a vicious punch, knocking the air completely out of the prince. Vegeta dropped to the ground, folding his arms against his stomach as unbelieveable pain racked his body. Kakarott smirked nastily and added "Now that is true strength, Ouji." _

_"What a complete waste of space he is," Gohan said, and his father nodded in agreement. While watching Vegeta starting to struggle back up to his feet, the teenager added, "Oi, tousan? Why don't we go ahead and put our Prince here out of his misery?" _

_That aggressive sneer that just didn't seem to belong on Kakarott's face turned even more malicious, and he grinned sinisterly back at Vegeta. _

_"Yes, son. I think that would be a great idea," he said. _

_Gohan and Kakarott lifted their hands at the same time. Vegeta stared back in stunned belief, watching as father and son gathered power swiftly. His feet were rooted to the ground; his body kept telling him to move but his brain just wouldn't receive the message. _

_"NOOOOOOOO!" Vegeta screamed back in defiance. _

_Kakarott and Gohan fired the ki blasts at Vegeta at the same time. The beams simultaneously crossed the gap between them and their target, swallowing him whole and drowning out his scream of fury and pain..._

As the last of the nightmare faded away, Vegeta's eyes opened, his face covered in cold sweat. For a time, he stared fixedly at the ceiling over his head, thinking he was in his room and had just awoken from a nap, and now was trying to assure himself that it had all been a dream. But it had felt so real; it felt as he had actually been in that strange dream world, being taunted by a Super Saiyajin Two Gohan and Kakarott, unable to make them stop, and then the two of them all firing a simultaneous blast of energy at him that would've surely killed him had it all been real.

Vegeta scowled at the ceiling-well, rather at the image his mind's eye presented him in the form of a black-haired Kakarott smiling back at him, almost tauntingly. _*Damn you, Kakarott. Will it always be like this? Will you always haunt me so?* _

Naturally, he received no answer.

As some of the fog started to lift in his head, the prince started to become aware of some things. For one thing, there was something odd about his breathing. He wasn't having any breathing problems or anything, it just sounded strange to his own ears. It took him a moment to realize he was actually wearing a breathing mask! He then noticed that the room he was in wasn't really his own; he had never really seen this room before. Was he even at Capsule Corporation anymore? Lifting his head to look down at himself, he was even more puzzled when he saw that he was lying on a bed, bandaged up from his midsection all the way up to his right shoulder, and as he looked upward, he saw that more bandage was wrapped around his forehead like some makeshift headband. Wires attached to bleeping monitors were hooked to his arms.

What in the bloody hell was he doing in there? What had happened? He couldn't remember...

Momentarily, Vegeta realized another presence in the room. Turning his head, his dark eyes widened in quiet surprise when he realized the presence he felt had actually been Juuhachi-gou. She was sitting at a desk beside his bed, her chin propped in her hands as she stared off into space, not even noticing that he was awake now.

_*What is that Jinzouningen...* _he trailed off in his thoughts, as he couldn't help but to notice her countenance. It was covered by that expression again- the one he had saw on her face on the day his sister came to Earth. That of look of being led astray, smeared vaguely with despair.

In the next moment, once again, Vegeta was reminded of himself. Vegeta scowled at her in frustrated perplexity.

_*Why? Why do I feel like I'm looking into a mirror of my soul when she looks that way!* _Vegeta puzzled. _*She's not even a real human anymore, turned into a machine by some old crazy fool to kill Kakarott. So why do I keep seeing myself in her?*_

As if she just heard his thoughts (which Vegeta wondered briefly), Juuhachi-gou suddenly noticed him watching her and turned to face him. Vegeta's accustomed scowl immediately slipped back onto his face, and he removed the breathing mask.

"Oh. So you're finally awake," she remarked.

"Android...What am I doing in here?" he demanded.

A blonde brow rose in question. "Don't you remember? You were training, but the ship exploded and you were got caught in it."

"The ship blew up?" Vegeta echoed, his voice soft yet still fierce with confusion. As he turned away and stared back up at the ceiling, his eyes momentarily became faraway as his memory suddenly returned to him. Yes, he remembered now! While he was training inside his gravity chamber for the first time in days, something went haywire inside the gravitational machine, and the setting started spinning completely out of control. Vegeta could remember the heavy feeling of being pinned down to the floor. The setting had gotten so high, he hadn't been able to transform into a Super Saiyajin. And then it detonated...

"How long have I been out?" he asked after a long time.

"After it happened, you were out for the rest of the day," Juuhachi-gou answered tonelessly, brushing her hair back on the left side to tuck it behind her ear. "It's a whole new morning now."

If Vegeta was surprised by that, he didn't let it show on his face.

"Wait a minute. How did I get in here?" he asked, looking toward her again.

"I brought you in here," Juuhachi-gou casually informed him, somewhat absently sweeping a couple of strands of her hair out of her face.

"You did what?" It was only on rare occasions that anyone ever got to see pure shock written on the face of the Saiyajin Prince, and it was one of those times now as Vegeta briefly stared up at the blonde woman as if he'd never seen her prior to this day. Right away, he slid a supsicious scowl on his face like a shield, trying to hide his surprise. "You did! But why?"

"Hey, don't let it go to your head," Juuhachi-gou retorted, both her voice and her expression becoming very frigid. "I only brought you in here because Dr. Briefs asked me to. If it was up to me, I would have just left you there."

Even as Vegeta continued to regard the cyborg woman, his brain couldn't immediately digest the idea of what she had done; he never would have done the same for her. They were enemies, openly hated one another even, and yet... It just defied his logic, much like it did whenever Kakarott used to do the same thing.

Both Juuhachi-gou's eyebrows raised when Vegeta suddenly sat up in bed. He tore the wrappings off his forehead and his body, carelessly throwing them on the floor. Then he started removing the wires from his arms.

"What do you think you're doing?" she finally asked. "You shouldn't be doing that, you should lie back down."

"Don't presume to tell me what to do," Vegeta snapped. "Mind your own business."

"Is that any way to speak to me after what I did!" Juuhachi-gou shot back in disbelief. "If anything, you should be getting on your knees and thanking me for saving your pathetic, worthless life in the first place!"

"If you're looking for gratitude from me, then you can just forget it!" snarled the Prince. "I owe you nothing. With or without your damned help, I would've survived! I am the Prince of the Saiyajin, no mere explosion could ever destroy me! And as for thanking you... the day I tell you thanks will be day Hell freezes over!"

Juuhachi-gou's expression lost all its usual calm and her lovely features twisted into a savage snarl as she glared irately at Vegeta, her fists clenching at her side. Then, to Vegeta's silent amazement, the look of utter rage vanished from Juuhachi-gou's face as if it had never been there, and her countenance softened.

_*What are you up to, Jinzouningen?* _Vegeta wondered, keeping his eyes fixed on his 'rescuer' when she started to walk towards him. Momentarily, Juuhachi-gou stopped beside him. To further the Prince's puzzlement, Juuhachi-gou reached down and gently lifted up his head to pull the pillow out from under him, and then gently laid Vegeta's head back down. Picking up the pillow, Juuhachi-gou began to fluff it. But then, in the next second, Juuhachi-gou looked down at him and her face transmuted into pure evil.

At that very moment, Dr. Briefs was coming up the hallway, Tama riding on his shoulder as usual.

"Time to check up on Vegeta-san again, Tama-chan," he said.

Tama purred in agreement.

Just as Dr. Briefs reached the door, he abruptly heard a cry on the other side that unmistakably sounded like Vegeta. Worried that the Saiyajin's injuries might have worsen, the scientist was about to go in, when the door abruptly slid open, letting out a fuming Juuhachi-gou. Both Dr. Briefs and Tama observed her leave with a look of matching puzzlement for a moment, and then looked inside the room where they were both even furthered puzzled by the sight of Vegeta being covered in pillow feathers.

* * *

On a higher plane of existence, hovered a maroon planetoid against a backdrop of star-scattered space. Also circling its orbit was three moons: one red, one green, and one yellow. Below on the dwarf planet stood a grand castle with a long, sweeping staircase. Right at that moment, a lone woman-its only occupant- stood outside near the edge of the asteroid, donned in armor and holding a wickedly carved glaive in her right hand. Piercing, orange eyes gazed out into the distance, not just for the sake of stargazing but to gaze into other worlds. If she ever needed to find someone, it didn't matter how faraway they were, she could easily spot them as if they were standing right in front of her. It was one of the abilities that came with her station.

Currently, she was staring into one particular dimension. There she was both seeing and sensing some kind of disturbance creeping along that realm. Her grip tightened on her glaive, and a frown hardened her normally smooth features. It was a problem she knew all-too well; one she hoped didn't mean the source behind this wasn't who she thought it was. But...

Behind her, high up in the sky, there was three twinkles of light. Then three force beams descended with lightning speed, merging into an enormous one midway.

"Huh!" the woman gasped in alarm, whirling when she finally noticed the light approaching.

However, by the time she did, the beam struck.

* * *

That night at Capsule Corporation, Vegeta stepped out of his room, putting on his yellow, long-sleeved shirt. The Prince had completely recovered from the incident with the ship exploding on him yesterday; being a fast healer, all of the scars were already starting to disappear. Unfortunately, now he was without his gravity chamber, and couldn't train the way he wanted to. Earlier when Dr. Briefs came into his room, he immediately told the doctor he wanted a new gravity chamber at once, and while Dr. Briefs didn't mind at all, it would take a few days for it to get done because long before the ship exploded the scientist had been coming up with a plan to place a gravity chamber inside the house for Vegeta. So, until did, he once again had nothing to do.

Vegeta charted a path towards the balcony. A short moment later, as he was pulling the sliding door open and stepped outside onto the balcony, a refreshing breeze greeted the regal warrior. Sliding the door back closed, he walked over towards the railing, laying his hands down on the metal bar as he gazed out into the distance.

"So much for coming out here to do some thinking," said an all-too familiar, irritated voice.

Vegeta whirled at once, surprised to see Juuhachi-gou standing on the other side of the balcony, glaring at him with the usual icy anger. When he came out, Vegeta had been unaware in the slightest that there was another presence already out on the balcony, and he silently scolded himself. What's wrong with him? Didn't he learn long ago to never let his guard down? What if the Artificial Human really had just tried to kill him just then? Had she moved quick enough, she would have succeeded and he wouldn't have realized what happened until it was too late.

He tried to cover up his expression with his signature scowl.

"What are you doing out here?" Vegeta demanded. "Shouldn't you be shut down for the night by now?"

Juuhachi-gou gave Vegeta a cold stare, her hands ball into fists at her sides; she just about had it up to here with his machine-related insults. She really should have left it out there on the lawn yesterday to bleed to death. After a moment, she managed to calm herself back down.

"Vegeta, why don't you do us both a favor and go away," she said. "Surely you don't want to stand out here with me? Because I'm not going anywhere, even because of you!"

"You would really like that, wouldn't you?" Vegeta countered. "So, just for that, I'm not budging, either."

"Hmph! Have it your way," Juuhachi-gou said snappishly, looking away as she attempted to ignore Vegeta, who did the same to her.

However, as hard as they both tried, trying to ignore the other wasn't easy for them to do. Who could ignore someone they detested standing across from them? But they were both so stubborn and prideful, neither would admit defeat the other and leave. The extremely tensed silence stretched out between them for several more moments, before Juuhachi-gou finally broke it with an impatient sigh.

"This is just pointless!" she said irritably. She looked back over at Vegeta, who was looking back at her out the corner of his eye. "If I didn't completely dislike you and actually cared for what you had to say, I would suggest we actually try talking to each other since neither of us is going to move."

"For once, I completely agree with you," Vegeta said. "There's absolutely nothing I want to discuss with a manneq-"

All of a sudden, Vegeta trailed off in his words. On second thought, he realized, perhaps he was speaking too quickly.

"Jinzoun-no, Juuhachi-gou, I changed my mind," he said. "There is something I would like to talk you about, after all."

Juuhachi-gou stared back at Vegeta in utter shock. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually heard him call her by her real name, or if he ever has, instead of giving her some insulting moniker. So he had her complete and undivided attention.

"Um. All right, " Juuhachi-gou replied warily, scowling at the Saiyajin Prince in suspicion. "What is that you wanted to talk about?"

Vegeta was privately amused about throwing the blonde woman off guard. Normally, he didn't hold her in such regard that he used her actual name, then again there were very few people he did hold in regard. Well, he really did need to talk to her, and he knew insulting her might just lead to an argument that would be a waste of both their times.

"What is your purpose for existing now?" Vegeta queried.

"My purpose...for existing?" Juuhachi-gou repeated, baffled, while at the same time struggling to hide her shock at him asking this specific question. The same question that's been on her mind for a while now. To cover it up, she chuckled a bit and tucked her hair behind her left ear. "That's a pretty weird question, Vegeta."

"Just answer it," Vegeta replied impatiently. "Dr. Gero created you and your brother to kill Son Goku, but now both he and your creator are dead. So for what reason does someone like you continue to live for?"

Juuhachi-gou didn't answer him right away, staring down into the backyard with a frown of comteplation on her face, obviously turning this question over in her mind. She didn't speak for so long, that Vegeta started to wonder if maybe Juuhachi-gou had decided to ignore him- a thought which made that notorious temper of his flare. No one ignored him when he actually demanded information from them.

"I don't know..." she said at last.

"What?" Vegeta asked, as if he didn't understand what she just said.

"I said I don't know," Juuhachi-gou repeated, loud and clear, as she looked back at Vegeta. She then turned her gaze out toward the rest of the city. "Killing Goku had been my prime objective given to me by that old man, yes, however, these days...I have no specific reason in my life to exist. I just live for the sake of living now, I guess. Going through the motions day by day. Sometimes I feel more ailen to this world than you must do."

Juuhachi-gou tossed the prince a look of irritation when he responded with a scornful laugh.

"You feel more alien on this place than I do?" Vegeta asked incredulously. "Don't be so absurd! In all the time I've lived here on Earth, the foolishness the Earthlings continues to boggle me. At least you can relate to them, you used to be one of them."

Juuhachi-gou glanced at Vegeta with something akin to surprise, then her features hardened and she turned her gaze back towards the city again.

"Humans are foolish, I can't argue with that," she agreed after a long pause. Juuhachi-gou smiled very vaguely. "But they aren't all, I suppose. Bulma and her family are okay. And Kuririn, too."

"Kuririn!" Vegeta asked incredulously. He laughed with scorn again. "You can't be serious? That so-called fighter is the most foolish of all! He's just an utter waste of space."

Juuhachi-gou's eyes narrowed on Vegeta. "Oh, really? For a waste of space, I'd say he has more he has more noble traits than some people with actual noble blood."

Vegeta immediately rounded on Juuhachi-gou with a glare.

"Is that supposed to be some kind of an insult?" he demanded.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is!" Juuhachi-gou responded without any hesitation. "And another thing, since when did you start caring about what happens to me?" Juuhachi-gou wanted to know.

"It's nothing," Vegeta retorted evasively, looking away. "Just forget it."

"No, I won't forget it," Juuhachi-gou replied stubbornly. "There has to be some reason why you would ask me such a personal question, and I want to know what it is!"

Vegeta briefly looked surprised, then he scowled in annoyance.

"I said forget it!" he snapped.

"And I said no!" Juuhachi-gou snapped back. "Why won't you tell me why you really asked that question? What are you so afraid of?"

"Afraid!" Vegeta echoed. He laughed scoffingly. "I'm afraid of nothing! And I owe you no explanation, artificial doll. You're starting to annoy me!"

"I could say the same thing about you!"

The two just stood there, holding each other's gaze of pure hatred, while at the same time trying to ignore the strange heat that had been building between them ever they had begun their unusual conversation. No, if either were to ever put aside their prides, they would admit this wasn't the first time they had felt this sensation around the other. The first had been during that infamous battle on that mountain highway not too long ago. But now the odd feeling was back, stronger than ever, and unbeknown to Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou, drawing them ever-so-closer to each other.

"I just don't get it," Juuhachi-gou said, breaking the silence. "Why did that person I used to be ever choose someone like you for a lover? I just don't see the logic behind it at all."

Now they were almost practically standing face-to-face.

"I agree," Vegeta replied with fierce softness. "If I had to lay with a Earthling, surely there were much better women around."

Now they touching chest-to-chest. That heat instantly erupted into a furious blaze that enveloped the two of them, and Vegeta grabbed Juuhachi-gou's head to crush his lips against hers, his tongue easily gaining entrance inside her mouth. Juuhachi-gou resisted for a slight second, then she gave in to the raging emotions inside her as well. They both wrapped their arms around each other to deepen the close contact, their tongues duelling for dominance in a fiery kiss, but unlike their first battle, their was no clear-cut winner.

Despite being consumed with a burning passion he had never felt before, Vegeta couldn't help but be surprised at how Juuhachi-gou didn't feel like a machine at all. She felt very delicate in his arms, in spite of her incredible strength. And like any other woman he had ever been with, he could feel her heart quickening as passion overtook her as well. No, she wasn't the machine he thought she was at all.

This went on a little while longer, before the two regained controlled of themselves and broke apart, immediately going to either side of the balcony; they didn't even meet each other's eyes. For several, long moments, the only sounds that could be heard was the sound of their heavy breathing and the late night noises of the city, as they tried to recover. But even after that, neither one made an attempt to leave quickly as possible, or to utter another word. After all of that, what could they possibly say to each other? The air around them had become completely awkward and could they go to from now? And more importantly, that heat was still seething between them.

Vegeta looked up when Juuhachi-gou suddenly turned and started to head towards the sliding door that led back inside the house. However, just as she pushed it open, she glanced back at Vegeta, her expression unreadable.

"I'm going to my room," she murmured. "You can have this balcony to yourself."

With that, Juuhachi-gou went on inside. Vegeta continued to stare at the spot she was last standing, his expression intensely surprised. Just then while she was speaking, he got the feeling the meaning behind her words were completely different from the way she had said it, for his body was blazing even more. In Vegeta's mind, there was no need to think anything over. He knew what he wanted right now, and it was the same thing she wanted. Not wasting another second, he walked back into the house after Juuhachi-gou, pulling the door close behind him.

Minutes later after stepping inside her room, Juuhachi-gou barely had a chance to gather herself, had no time at all to wonder if Vegeta got her secret message or if she even wanted to, when Vegeta walked in. As their eyes met across the room, any doubt fled from Juuhachi-gou's mind.

There were no words exchanged as Vegeta quickly crossed the gap between them, meeting the blonde woman in another feverish kiss. For now, there was no questioning about why this was happening. There was no resistance at all from either of them.

When it happened, Vegeta wasn't sure if Juuhachi-gou had pulled him down on the bed, or if he pushed her down on it, however, that mattered very little to him right now. Clothes were quickly removed. At first, the two inspected each other's body with their eyes, both privately marvelling over surprising perfection. What amazed Vegeta the most was how un-robot like Juuhachi-gou really was. With her being a Jinzouningen, he though she'd feel and taste like cold metal. But as he inspected her body with his hands and mouth, he discovered that she was just as soft- and a little firm as well- as any other female he's been with, and actually tasted quite sweet. And what he found even more amazing was that tantalizing scent of her growing arousal, sending a bolt of lightning all the way down to his groin. Unable to wait a second longer, he spread her legs and pressed forward to fill her completely. As he started to move, both Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou knew they would hate themselves for this tomorrow, but for right now they would enjoy what the other had to offer.

It was deep into the night by the time it was all over. Powering down, Vegeta collapsed onto Juuhachi-gou, spent; he didn't bother to redistribute his Saiyajin weight, as he knew he wouldn't crush someone like the blonde woman beneath him, who was panting just hard as he was, the sweat from both of their bodies mingling together.

With the red fog now starting to diminish from his mind, the next coherent thought that ran through his mind, in an awed tone, was,_ *Damn_*.

* * *

Early next morning, Vegeta pulled himself back out of the depths of deep, peaceful slumber and back into the realm of the wakeful world. Immediately, he was blasted in the face cruelly by the harsh light of the sun. Snarling a very bad word in his native language, he threw his left arm out in front of his face to block off the light.

Shortly, his eyes adjusted to the light and he lowered his arm. And it was almost immediately after when Vegeta realized that he wasn't in his room. Vegeta blinked in faint puzzlement. In who's room was he in, then? And what was he doing there in the first? Vegeta tried to think, tried to remember the reason why he was in this bedroom in the first place, but he couldn't. His head felt very fuzzy right now.

He tried to touch his forehead with his right hand, slightly hoping that it would help him remember. But he couldn't. Something was lying on his right arm. Curious as to what it was, Vegeta looked down over, and his heart instantly sunk into his feet when he saw a familiar blonde sound asleep in his arm, and was as naked as he was.

Just the sight of the sleeping Juuhachi-gou, brought back memories from last night in a rush, and his eyes grew progressively wider as he recalled everything. They had been out on the balcony, actually somewhat talking civilized with another, before things spun completely out of control and ended up with Juuhachi-gou inviting Vegeta into her room, and him accepting her offer. With gentleness, born from the desire to get the hell out of there as fast as he could and not wake her up, Vegeta extricated himself from the sleeping Jinzouningen's embrace. Swiftly, he got off the bed, slipped his pants back on, and just as quickly fled from the room, closing the door behind him.

Vegeta stood under a spray of scalding water in the shower of his own personal bed room, his whole being burning with shame. He furiously scrubbed the soap-lathered rag all over his body, trying to wash away the scent of sex and Juuhachi-gou herself. What happened to him last night? What happened to them both? How in the hell could he lose all the discipline that had been instilled in him since he was a child and let his hormones dictate his actions?

It was a while later when Vegeta was done bathing. After stepping out, he dried himself off and went back into his room to find some clothes for the day. But while he was doing so, an cheery voice suddenly drifted in on the other side of his bedroom door-

"Vegeta-san! If you're up, breakfast is ready!" Mrs. Briefs called. "Oh, you also have a visitor waiting for you in the living room."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. _*Visitor? Who in the hell would come visit me!*_

Curiosity gnawing at him heavily, the prince quickly finished grooming himself and headed downstairs toward the living room. With each step he took, he wondered who it could be. Kakarott's son or any of his friends sure wouldn't have a reason to visit him. Then his old, suspicious mind wondered if an old enemy had found out where he lived but Vegeta quickly dismissed that thought.

Who could it be then?

When Vegeta did finally arrive to the living room, the person he found, casually drinking tea, was definitely not the person he had been expecting. He stared at them in shock. The visitor noticed him, and smirked in smug amusement.

"Did you sleep well...brother?" Amara asked.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	6. The Return of Amara

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Author's Note: I've redone the characters of Larentia, her three main henchmen, and given them new names. I've also done the same to Lucia. Larentia and Lucia aren't sisters either.**

**Chapter Six: The Return of Amara**

* * *

"What in the blazes are you doing here?" Those were the first words Vegeta uttered since he arrived in the living room to find his very unexpected visitor.

"Nice to see you again, too, Vegeta," Amara replied with surprising calm, placing her cup down on the nearby table. She looked openly amused at his stunned reaction of her showing up again out of the blue. Glancing casually around the room, she added, "I must say, your domicile here is..._interesting_, to say the least. Not bad at all, considering this planet isn't very advanced. But to think that all this time the mighty Prince Vegeta has been living this friendly with the Earthlings."

Vegeta growled at her and it wasn't just because of her implied rebuke. Vegeta didn't prefer idle chitchat under any circumstance, but today he especially wasn't in the mood for it. He wanted his sister to hurry up with what she wanted with him, and then leave his sight as soon as possible. Because the longer she stayed, the higher the horrid chance of Juuhachi-gou appearing at any moment got. Knowing how much the two despised each other, and Amara possibly finding out they slept together, it would all make for one bad scene he could do without.

"That's not what I asked you," Vegeta snapped. "What are you doing here?"

In her chair, Amara watched her brother speculatively. Even after being apart for so many years, she was still sensitive to his moods, which was why she almost quickly realized Vegeta was trying to be done with her and send her on her way fast. His surlier-than-normal attitude and that strange tenseness in his voice mixed in with a bit of urgency gave him away. For what reason? It really didn't matter, she immediately decided. She didn't come back to Earth just to uncover secrets her brother was obviously trying to hide. What she had really returned to this planet for was something far more difficult. Something that any true Saiyajin- certainly not a Saiyajin Elite- would rather die first then do what she came to do.

"Vegeta...it already pisses me off to say such things at all, but it pisses me off even more that I have to come to _you_ of all people." For a moment, Amara closed her eyes, gathering herself this. When she reopened them, her expression serious and unwavering. She looked directly at her brother. "The real reason I came back to Earth was because I need your _help_ with something."

Surprise briefly registered on Vegeta's face, then quickly replaced by cold contempt.

"You're actually asking me for my help?" he asked slowly. Vegeta snorted, crossing his arms. "What? You want me to beat the Jinzouningen for you since you can't?"

"Hell, no, you idiot!" Amara exploded, face twisted in anger, her hands clenching into fists in her lap. "How dare you say that to me! I can beat that tin-woman all on my own, and one of these days I will!" It took a few for moments of self-control for her to calm back down. In a flat tone, she added, "But now that you mention her, my business here does also involve Juuhachi-gou as well. If it wasn't because she had no ki to read, she would have been the one I paid a visit to first; though it's not in the way you may think. When I felt your ki earlier, I had thought I would find you two together again."

"J-Just what do you mean by that?" the Prince demanded, his eyes imperceptibly widening in surprise and suspicion. Did she somehow already sense what had happened between him and Juuhachi-gou? Damn it...

"Well, since you were with her the last time I was here, I assumed it would be the same this time. If not that, I thought you would at least know where she was."

_*Yeah, I know where she is, all right,* _a voice in Vegeta's head replied tartly. _*She's naked and asleep in her bed, right where I left her.*_

Still, he was certainly not going to tell his sister that. Naturally, he would just lie about Juuhachi-gou's whereabouts. Vegeta's lips had begun to move as he was about to give Amara an answer. However, before words could even come out, someone entered the living room. Swearing to himself again, Vegeta whirled a irritated glare at the person stepping into the room with them, and he froze when he saw the blonde-haired woman standing in the entryway of the room.

Amara looked that way as well. Her and Juuhachi-gou instantly locked eyes, exchanging looks of sheer surprise across the room.

The one thing Vegeta hadn't want to happen since discovering his sister was there had just happened: Juuhachi-gou had appeared. Nobody spoke for a length moment, only staring at each other. Amara looked from her brother to Juuhachi-gou to her brother to Juuhachi-gou and finally back to her brother again. Then she rose from her seat, the grimace on her face intensifying.

"Amara! What are you doing here?" Juuhachi-gou asked, reacting the same way Vegeta did when he first saw Amara. She stared narrowly at the other woman.

Surprisingly, Amara ignored her, levelling her brother with a glare instead.

"She...you...are living in the same house together?" Amara asked, disgusted. "So, something is going on between you two after all!"

Vegeta said nothing. What was there to say?

"There is nothing going on between us!" Juuhachi-gou said in annoyance, conveniently lying. "We're living in the same house because due to different circumstances, the humans who live here invited us to stay."

Vegeta glanced Juuhachi-gou's way, before turning his gaze back to his sister. Juuhachi-gou was still exchanging glares with Amara, who was glowering at them both in frigid anger.

In the following moment, the threeway stare-down was interrupted when the window abruptly exploded nearby, glass fragments flying all over the living room. Pivoting at once, the Saiyajin Prince and Princess and the Jinzouningen looked varyingly bewildered when they saw the source of the damage. Hovering outside the ruined window were a trio of hideous bat bipeds donned in black and white armor. Engraved on their chests was a red insignia of a eight-pointed star, and stamped on each of their faces were evil grins they regarded the fighters wickedly.

"Who the hell are you jackasses?" Vegeta demanded, his habitual scowl setting back into place.

"Shit!" Amara swore, teeth gritted. "_She's _found me already!"

"She?" Vegeta repeated curiously, as he and Juuhachi-gou glanced at his sister at the same time.

"It's that Saiyajin woman again, and the Jinzouningen's with her this time!" the demon in the middle crowed, speaking in a gravelly voice. A sharp, black lacquered talon was aimed in their direction.

"But that guy isn't the Cyborg's brother," the demon on the left pointed out. "He's completely different."

"Huh?" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking even more bewildered now. "What is this all about?"

"We'll get the other guy later," said that demon on right. "These two are definitely the ones our Goddess wants! This unfortunate sap here will just have to die for being in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

"Get them!" barked the first demon.

Just then, the Briefs couple and Puar rushed into the room.

"What's with all the commotion?" Dr. Briefs asked. The three then caught sight of the demons, and they all exclaimed in alarm.

Turning to them, the demon on the left amassed its ki in the shape of a sphere, and then hurled it at the three like a baseball. The Briefs and Puar stood rooted in place by fear, watching wide-eyed as death approached them.

Juuhachi-gou rushed forward to intercept the attack, left fist curled. She struck out with a hard punch, reflecting the ki ball back to where it came from. The demon who had fired it only had a second to look stunned before his own attack was slammed into his face, propelling him away from the house and exploding moments later.

The other two demons stared wide-eyed, shocked at the abrupt demise of their comrade.

"Thank you, Juuhachi-gou-san!" Puar said gratefully.

"Yes, thank you," Dr. Briefs said, his wife looking just as grateful beside him.

"Who were those rude people?" Mrs. Briefs asked.

Juuhachi-gou's eyes flicked toward them for the measure of a heartbeat, but she didn't respond. What was all of this about? What did those freaks or whatever they were mean that she and Amara were the ones their Goddess wanted? And what did her brother have to-the thought was interrupted before it could form as the answer to her questions became instantly clear.

Meanwhile, outside, Vegeta and Amara were battling with the other two demons. Battles the two Saiyajin Elites were finding pitifully easy.

"An unfortunate sap, am I?" Vegeta asked the very same demon that had made that remark about him, grinning sadistically. At the moment, he was grinding his shoe against the head of the aforementioned demon, whom was crying in pain. Deciding that was enough, Vegeta removed his shoe and promptly executed the demon with a ki blast. Watching his so-called killer fade away into nothingness, the Saiyajin's expression turned irritation. "How embarrassing to have my life targeted by such weakling trash."

Nearby, even though they were several meters apart, the demon lashed out at the Saiyajin no Oujo with his right claw, his arm stretching across the gap between them. Amara dodged it. When the demon tried with the other arm, she absconded that as well, but this time she leaped onto the arm and ran up it at top speed. Holding out her right hand, Amara stretches out her right arm sideways, forming a Energy Sword. Once she reached the bicep, Amara leaped off and higher into the air with a battle cry, coming back down to split the demon in half with a single slash.

Amara said nothing as she stared down at her severed opponent, almost absently willing away her Energy Sword. Despite her visage being cold, an inner turmoil could be seen flickering in her dark eyes.

"Amara! You have some explaining to do!" Vegeta said gruffly as he stomped over to her. His sister looked at him impassively. "Who were those three worthless scums? Hmph! Don't tell me they're the ones you needed my help with."

"No, it's not them. It's the Goddess that controls them." That response didn't come from Amara, but Juuhachi-gou herself. Brother and sister looked around to see her walking towards them, her expression more serious than normal. Drawing to stop in front of them, though not that close, she leveled her pale blue stare onto Amara.

"You figured it out, huh?" Amara asked.

Juuhachi-gou nodded. "To think that she would be free again."

"Who are you two talking about?" Vegeta demanded impatiently, not liking to being talked over.

"I would like to know that, too!" said a new, yet familiar voice.

Everyone looked up to watch Piccolo debark in front of them, followed by Gohan and then Kuririn. Summarily, Piccolo caught sight of Amara and trained a fierce glare on her, the mien on his face telling her quite clearly that he hasn't forgotten their previous encounter. Amara looked far more amused than the least bit intimidated.

"It's that Amara woman!" Kuririn said in surprise.

Standing beside him, Gohan regarded the Saiyajin Princess with a interesting expression. Although it wasn't hostile, the usual friendly mask he wore on his face wasn't there either. He still hadn't forgotten what she had done to Piccolo either.

"I thought I sensed your ki here," Piccolo said.

Amara smiled impudently. "And what do you tend to do about it?"

The frown already on Piccolo's face hardened.

"Why are you three here, anyway?" Juuhachi-gou asked, cutting both Piccolo and Amara off before another fight broke out. She really wasn't in the mood for it right now.

"We were attacked by those things as well!" Kuririn announced, glancing over at the remains of the demon Amara killed. Amara took her eyes off Piccolo to stare at Kuririn, looking stunned by what he just said.

"Yeah, we sensed them appear here as well, so we came over," Gohan added.

"But how interesting this all happened when you show back up," Piccolo said, eyes still on Amara.

She ignored him. "I don't get it. It makes no sense at all," Amara said incredulously. "Why would she send those things to attack any of you? You have nothing to do with this!"

"To do with what?" Piccolo demanded.

"Yeah, what the hell is going on here?" Kuririn asked.

Amara was about to reply, then she stopped, staring contemplatively at Kuririn, Piccolo, and Gohan in turn. Her gaze lingered on Gohan.

_*Hm, maybe this has actually worked out for the better,* _she thought. _"I think I can use the three of them as well.* _

Amara's black eyes grew distant as she thought back on that momentous day years ago, remembering every detail of it even now. "Four years ago, I first met both Juuhachi-gou and her brother during a stop for some fuel on Planet Alphasei. However, before that, my path crossed with another individual on that day-Kaosu, a deity of the Chaos Realm."

"The Chaos Realm?" Piccolo repeated, looking disturbed.

"Kaosu had appeared out of nowhere, attacking everything and everyone in sight at once. And that included me." The left side of her mouth curled upward. "Although I knew I was severely outclassed from the beginning, even before I knew she was a god, I just couldn't resist the challenge; and I had to make her pay for trying to claim my life. But I quickly realized I had gotten myself into something I wasn't really prepared for." Her face contorted into a furious snarl, fists clenching. "I threw everything I had at her, and she just shrugged them off as if they were nothing. That witch had just been toying around with me all along! She actually could've killed me, but then-"

"That's when my brother and I showed up to join the fight," Juuhachi-gou interjected, all eyes turning to her.

Grimacing, Amara resumed where she left off. "And as much as I really hate to admit it, they were actually able to do damage to her. Although they managed to slow her down for a bit, Kaosu was still fighting strong and still had the clear cut advantage."

"Then how did you beat her?" Vegeta wondered aloud, finding himself becoming more and more intrigued about this Kaosu person by the second.

"We didn't," Juuhachi-gou answered flatly.

"What?" Kuririn asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Amara decided to cut in. "This mysterious man by the name of Zocho suddenly appeared to challenge Kaosu. It was from him we found out that she was a Goddess from the Chaos Realm. It was from him we found out that she was a Goddess from the Chaos Realm, and that her only real weakness was a magical orb known as the Dragon Sphere. While we fought with Kaosu for a long time, he defeated her in a matter of seconds with a very powerful sealing technique to imprison her in crystal; while I know you're thinking that wouldn't be able to stop a God, this spell also eternally drew on Kaosu's stamina, which would keep her too weak to try and break free. Afterwards, he transported her to planet Omegasei, where Kaosu was supposed to stay imprisoned for all eternity, but..."

"But now she's free again," Gohan finished.

"Yes," Amara answered, nodding. "And as you've seen, this time she's working with henchmen, and undoubtedly they were the ones who freed her."

"You mean you've seen her?" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking surprised. "And you're still alive?"

Amara turned to Juuhachi-gou, smirking grimly. "Like I said, that seal drained Kaosu of her strength and stamina, leaving her no more of a threat than one of these Earthlings." She scowled. "Unfortunately, she's working with henchmen this time, and three of those bastards are admittedly very tough. I could beat them one on one, but not at the same time. Even as a Super Saiyajin. The ones that came after us today are just lowly grunts." Actually, there was more to that she could add, but it was already demeaning enough that she was sinking so low as to ask for help. She wouldn't dare tell her brother nor her enemy that she actually barely made it off Omegasei alive when she had been spotted by Kaosu and her minions.

"Oh? Is that so?" Vegeta asked, obviously intrigued.

Amara nodded stiffly. "Another thing, although her strength is feeble at the moment, Kaosu's ki is rising back up fast."

"But this may be more serious than we thought," Piccolo said gravely.

Everyone turned to the green warrior.

"I've only heard vague rumors about it, but the Chaos Realm is supposedly the home to a race of dark, twisted Gods with power more fearsome than all the Kaious combined."

"Well, the rumors are true," Amara replied. "Kaosu's strength really is that awesome."

"What I'm wondering is why she sent her underlings to attack you and the others as well," Juuhachi-gou said, folding her arms. "If she did it to make the people who we're close to suffer as well as us, then it makes sense they would go after Vegeta since he's Amara's brother. But why you three?" As she asked that, she looked directly at Gohan, Piccolo, and Kuririn.

"I don't care why she did it," Vegeta said, sounding coldly angry. He clenched his right fist. "This Kaosu woman issued a challenge to me, so I'll give her exactly what she wants!"

"And because of her, Mom, the baby, and Grandpa were put in danger," Gohan added, frowning. "I can't overlook that!"

Looking directly at Amara, Piccolo sternly said, "I'll go too, but not to help you. I have a few things to say to this Kaosu myself."

Amara rolled her eyes in indifference.

"Ah man! It wasn't that long ago when we were fighting with Cell," Kuririn griped. "Now we have to fight a God?"

"Well, I hope you brought a bigger ship along with you," Vegeta said after a long moment. "Otherwise, it'll be very cramped inside that Attack Ball of yours."

"Of course I brought a bigger spaceship," Amara replied, feeling annoyed that he would dare think she'd come here asking them to come into space with her and not have to common sense to pick up a bigger ship before she came back to Earth. Amara's dark eyes then cut across the room and came back to Juuhachi-gou. "So, Jinzouningen, are you coming as well?"

Juuhachi-gou's brows creased slightly as she answered, "Well, I guess I have no other choice but to, do I? I'm going to have to fight her either way, so I might as well go take the fight to her."

"Okay, then. Now that that's settled," Amara said. Something then crossed her mind and she turned to Gohan. "Where is your father, Kakarott? We could use him as well."

There was a grim moment of pause.

Then Gohan answered bleakly, "My father can't help us...He's dead."

Amara's eyes slightly widened in surprise.

* * *

While everyone was getting their business in order, Amara had returned to her ship on the outskirts of West City and waited for the others to arrive. It was an impressive vessel, a shiny red that gleamed in the sunlight; it almost resembled a Namekian spaceship, only it was slimmer and much sleeker. Before she went to Capsule Corporation, the royal warrior had been a bit worried that someone would come along and tamper with it, but no everything still seemed to be in the order like she left it.

Standing outside and leaning against the side of the ship, arms crossed, Amara reflected on the situation- well, on her 'teammates' actually. Teammates. Just the thought of herself actually having teammates deeply irked the Princess. She was the Saiyajin Princess, taught since she was old enough to understand that Saiyajin stood on their own; and any Saiyajin who relied on the strength of others wasn't a Saiyajin at all. Albeit she knew it had been necessary to degrade herself and ask for assistance in battling Kaosu, she still didn't like it.

Some time had passed by before someone had finally started to arrive. Even before she looked up, Amara knew it was Vegeta was approaching, and sure enough, her older brother touched down a few feet away from her, attired in his armor. Shortly after, Juuhachi-gou made her arrival, though she landed several feet away from both her and Vegeta. She was wearing the outfight she had on while she and a damaged Juuroku-gou had been fleeing from Cell, except she wasn't wearing the pearl necklace she had got with it.

Within the next few moments, the last members had finally arrived. Amara regarded them all, though Kuririn in particular. Her brows creased together as she evaulated him. She remembered irritably that the bald warrior was the one she had kicked off her after that suggestive position the two of them had gotten into the last time she was on Earth.

_*For an Earthling, I guess he's not too weak, but still not up to standards with the rest of us on this trip. But as long as he doesn't get in the way and can prove to be at least somewhat useful, then I guess I won't completely mind him coming along.*_

However, her brother thought otherwise as soon as he laid eyes on Kuririn. It was no secret that Vegeta thought very lowly of the former monk- especially his abilities as a warrior.

"So you actually showed up?" he asked contemptuously.

"Huh?" Kuririn said, turning in Vegeta's direction after assuming it was him the Prince had directed that question at. He realized that he was as Vegeta was looking directly at him. "Of course. I came here to help."

"You came here to help!" Vegeta echoed incredulously. He let out a scornful laugh. "How can you possibly help us?"

"Oh, lay off Kuririn, Vegeta," Gohan beseeched. "Why do you always have to pick on Kuririn?"

"You stay out of this, boy!" Vegeta barked back. "You know as well as I do that he's the weakest amongsts us, and always has been! All the rest of us are a hundred times stronger than he is. We would do fine on this mission without his so-called help."

Gohan looked as if he was about to come to Kuririn's defense again, but to everyone's surprise, Amara did.

"Enough, Vegeta!" she told him firmly. "If he can prove to be somewhat useful, I don't see the problem with letting him come."

Kuririn looked at the woman in surprise.

Vegeta stared back at his sister irritably. "Feh! If you want some dead weight to tag along with us, so be it!"

Vegeta ignored the indignant glare Kuririn flung at him, as he walked past his dead rival's best friend and then made his way onto Amara's ship.

"Grr! Damn that Vegeta," Kuririn grumbled. Gohan put a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Oh, don't listen to Vegeta," Gohan suggested. "Any kind of help is going to count."

The two then made their way onto Amara's ship as well, and were followed inside by Piccolo. As Juuhachi-gou was about to finally make her way onto the ship, she stop at the entrance, where Amara was still standing and looked over at her rival.

"Nice ship," she said. "Where did you get it from?"

With a half-wry, half-smug expression, Amara answered, "Some space pirates loaned it to me."

* * *

Far, far from Earth...

"Aggggghhhhhh!"

That was the final painful cry of a aqua-skinned, scaled-faced man before he went completely limp; the only thing still holding him up were the very same cold fingers that had completely stolen his ki by plunging into either side of his head. Then the fingers were removed, and the dead man fell backwards on the floor, joining the already numerous lifeless corpses that had suffered the same fate as he had earlier.

"That was quite...refreshing!" the owner of the lethal fingers-a woman- purred, wiggling her fingers in pure delight as she leaned back against her throne. The throne was made out of pure gold, a contrast to her lavender-gray skin-tone and dark outfit. She was a most striking being. Long, silky orange hair framed her heart-shaped face, matching her expressive, orange eyes, and red inverted crescent moon earrings was attached to either ear. The black attire she wore seemed to be made out of some shiny metal, crimson crystals were attached in the center of the chest area in the pattern of a eight-pointed star, with the shoulder pads and skirt peeled open like flower petals. She wore knee-high black, armor boots that had red sunburst gems attached on the center of each shin.

"We live only to serve you, Lady Kaosu-sama," said one of the trio that stood across from the goddess, bowing towards her respectfully. The two bowed as well.

The one that just spoke was a purple-skinned male of demon origin, who was rather handsome at that, with his shoulder length orange hair and dark eyes and pointy ears. He was donned in orange and black armor, which was slit open in the chest area to reveal a impressive physique underneath; a white cape hung from his neck, spilling down his back.

On his left stood a beautiful teal-skinned female who was also of demon origin; like the first demon, her ears were pointy, too, though she was shorter, her height only reaching that of his shoulder. She had long, straight white hair and dressed in a sea-green and black armor that almost resembled her fellow demon's, but the chest area of her armor was V-shaped, and her armor terminated in poofy, sea-green pants.

Standing to her left was another demon, though he towered over them both, orange-skinned with a blonde mohawk. He was quite ferocious looking, radiating sheer, brute strength. The pupils of his eyes were like that of a snake, while the iris were garnet. He wore a purple and black version of the same armor that the first demon male wore.

Like Kaosu herself and all who were in her service, engraved on the chests of the armor the three demons wore were eight-pointed stars.

"Mistress, after that hefty 'meal' you just ate, how are you feeling now?" asked the orange demon, Anaki.

"Much better than I did when you freed me, which I am still grateful for, my Chaos Generals," Kaosu answered. She suddenly winced slightly, and then scowled. "But it's still not enough. I still need some more to regain my full strength. Otherwise, I can never payback those pieces of trash who humiliated me so fours years ago!" Kaosu grinned vindictively. "Speaking of which, did you take care of that problem I asked you to?"

"Yes, Kaosu-sama," Konran answered, leering.

"She never knew what hit her!" Anaki boasted, chuckling.

"Good work!" Kaosu praised. "That's one less annoyance out of the way. And Zocho- have you been able to find him yet?"

"I regret to say, but no your ladyship," Fuwa answered. "That heathen has hidden himself very well."

"He'll show up soon, though," Kaosu said confidently. "Now that I have returned, he won't stay hidden for long. However, I'll be much more ready for his tricks this time around."

"We once again apologize that we couldn't eliminate that Saiyajin woman the other day," Konran said regrettably. Beside him, both his two fellow Generals bowed their heads in shame. "Next time, she won't escape!"

Kaosu nodded. "Right, she nor those Jinzouningen will be able to dodge my wrath. That is why I disptached those soldiers after them, to deliver that very message!" In the next instant, a look of genuine surprise briefly crossed her features, and then the goddess smiled. "Interesting. How very interesting."

"Is something wrong?" Fuwa inquired.

"Not at all," the deity answered, still smiling. "My adversaries are surprisingly considerate. Instead of making me find them, they are being kind enough to come to me. Unfortunately, Juuanan-gou isn't with them. Oh, well, once I'm done with his sister, that she-monkey and the bastard that did this to me, I'll go take care of him, too..." Kaosu's smile widened. "What's this? Some of those strong kis I sensed on Earth are also coming. I should have known the soldiers I sent wouldn't have been able to defeat them, but maybe this has worked out better than expected. Now I get to take care of them, along with the Jinzouningen and the Saiyajin Princess myself. No human or any other resident of this lowly dimension should be so strong."

"What miserable idiots!" Konran sneered. "They would have been better off trying to hide!"

"They have sealed their fates!" Anaki said.

"Our enemies will regret the day they tried to oppose our glorious Kaosu-sama!" Fuwa said dangerously.

"All who have humilated me..." Kaosu began, "and anyone who helps them will suffer my wrath! I won't lose this time for sure!" As she said the last part, a sadistic smile contorted her lovely face as fury and cold anticipation made her eyes glow a foreboding dark red.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	7. Bitter Remembrance

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Chapter Seven: Bitter Remembrance**

* * *

It had been hours since Amara, Juuhachi-gou, and the Z-Senshi had left Chikyuu and its solar system. They were making great time within the spaceship, too. According to Amara, if nothing went wrong, it would be a straight shot to Planet Omegasei and that it should take no more than a couple of days to reach their destination.

Excluding Vegeta, everyone was currently inside the ship's bridge. Just because he was coming along didn't mean the Saiyajin Prince would be changing his aloof ways, which a certain blonde woman relieved about, since she didn't have to look at him and be reminded of what they did. Piccolo stood against the wall on the right side of the room, arms crossed and eyes closed. Gohan and Kuririn sat on the floor passing time with some Image Training. Nearby, Amara stood in front of the control console, staring out through the viewport into space.

"So, what is our plan of action against Kaosu going to be?" Piccolo unexpectedly asked, eyes opening as he raised his head to look at Amara. "Or are we just rushing headlong into this?"

Hearing him, everyone else in the room turned toward the Namekseijin.

"I think all of us together could probably defeat her," Amara told him, briefly glancing over in Gohan's direction before turning her gaze back to Piccolo. "However...Kaosu's too much of a wildcard to take any chances with. That is why we need to get us a Dragon Sphere before we reach Omegasei."

"I have to agree," Juuhachi-gou said, drawing all eyes on her. "When we first fought Kaosu, she was all by herself, and even alone she was more than a handful. And now she's working with allies; three of them are so strong that not even a Super Saiyajin can't defeat on their own."

She summarily ignored the dark look Amara gave her at that bitter reminder. Gohan and Kuririn had stood up to their feet and walked over to where Piccolo was.

Amara turned back to Piccolo. "You've sensed it by now, haven't you? Kaosu's ki..."

Piccolo nodded. "Yeah, I feel it all right. It's steadily rising."

Exchanging glances, Gohan and Kuririn focused and felt out for the energy signature of the Chaos Goddess. There! It was still a long, long distance away but they could clearly feel it. The two looked disturbed at what they found, though Kuririn more so than Gohan.

"What an evil ki," Gohan murmured gravely, his eyebrows furrowing. "I haven't felt something like it since Cell."

"You know, this whole thing reminds me too much of our fight with Furiiza," Kuririn said, sounding a bit uneasy as he was starting to not really like the prospect of coming face to face with this Chaos Goddess all of a sudden. Although, he hadn't been exactly thrilled on meeting her before Amara had told them that.

"So just how exactly are we going to get a hold of a Dragon Sphere?" Juuhachi-gou asked. "I'm sure we won't find it at some store."

"We're going to get one from that sorcerer, of course," Amara replied. Reaching inside her right gauntlet, she pulled out the very same ruby that first alerted her to Kaosu's revival. "This gem acts as a tracking device for him; he's hidden himself, but with this we should be able to find him. And when we finally do reach that witch, she'll be weakened by the Dragon Sphere to give us too much trouble."

Right behind those words, the doors that led inside the bridge split open and Vegeta walked in. His eyes were trained on Amara, narrowed in disdain.

"You're talking the coward's way, Amara!"

"Vegeta-san," Gohan said.

Juuhachi-gou's eyes drifted toward Vegeta, but quickly diverted her cool gaze elsewhere before he could notice.

"What did you say?" Amara asked, turning her head halfway around to look at her brother with a glare.

"What's the point of even fighting this Kaosu, if you weaken her before the fight even begins?" Vegeta demanded. With a condescending smirk, he added, "A true Saiyajin would fight their opponent while they're at their full strength. It seems you have forgotten that!"

"A true Saiyajin also uses any and every weaknesses an opponent may have," Amara countered sharply." Apparently it's _you _who had forgotten. We have to fight smart if we intend to beat Kaosu. Brute strength alone can't defeat her. I tried that the last time I fought her, and it didn't work. We need that Dragon Sphere!"

"You couldn't defeat her by yourself because you were a weakling, and apparently you still are," Vegeta remarked.

That immediately launched a heated argument between the two. While Piccolo and Juuhachi-gou watched the arguing royal fighters impassively, while both Kuririn and Gohan did so nervously.

"This is going to be a very long trip," Piccolo remarked tiredly.

"Tell me about it," Juuhachi-gou agreed.

* * *

Kaosu sat on her throne in her private chamber; she had dismissed her underlings some time ago, wanting to be alone to think about her situation. Since her revival, she hadn't had much time for thinking, all that mattered was getting her strength back up after that crystalized imprisonment Zocho had sealed her up inside. Touching on the subject of the mysterious warrior reminded Kaosu that she still had yet to find him.

No matter how hard her Chaos Soldiers searched, they couldn't find him anywhere. Not even her God Eyes could locate him. Just what sorcery was he using to hide himself so effectively against even her?

Thinking about him too long made the Goddess's face twist in anger. She tried her best to keep her emotions under control; for a moment, they almost got the better of her, as she had gripped the left arm of her chair so tightly that it started to crack, but she managed to calm herself back down.

Letting her rage dictate her actions was the main cause of her misfortunes. That great war that led to her being banished to the Lower Realm. Losing to two alien humans and two artificial humans. Being incarcerated. All of that took place because she had lost her cool in the heat of battle.

Sitting up straight, Kaosu's gaze grew distant as she thought back to how all of this began.

Long before her confrontations with Juuhachi-gou, Amara and Zocho, she was one of the three gods who ruled over everything in the Chaos Realm. There, no one could touch her. She had truly been invincible. However, it was because of that very same invincibility that had led to her downfall.

All had seemed to be going well for so long, but Kaosu had discovered that the other two Chaos Gods had been plotting behind her back to overthrow her all along. Because her power had outstripped theirs severely, and her love for misery and destruction grew and grew, they feared she would betray them one day and try to take ownership over the Chaos Realm all for herself. So the two allied together and delivered the first strike before the idea could even cross her mind.

Following a long and fierce battle, the two and their combined forces eventually managed to defeat Kaosu and her own army. Just barely, though. Because Kaosu had been too powerful for them to completely destroy, her former cohorts used a potent magic spell to banish her from the Chaos Realm forever into this inferior domain. As strong as she was, not even her power could reopen the gateway to her home. Naturally, Kaosu had been beyond livid about this! And since she couldn't take her anger out on those traitors, she decided to do it on some unlucky nearby planets.

Unfortunately, things took a even bigger turn for the worse for Kaosu when she arrived on Planet Alphasei. Kaosu had been in the middle of demolishing the planet and any Alphaseijin that was in her line of vision. But then she was confronted by a female warrior who refused to run away or hide...

_"Hey, imbecile! Watch where you're throwing those damn energy blasts!" the woman snarled._

_Highly amused that one of these measly mortals would dare try to defy her, Kaosu had paused in her demolition to laugh at the other female. Instead, however, she spun around and stared in blank mild surprise when she saw who was standing behind her. For a brief moment, the deity took the other woman in from head-to-toe, taking in the woman's spiky-black hair, jet-black eyes, gleaming silver and black armor. The woman then sniffed the air and recognition of who was standing before her set in._

_"Dear me, you're a Saiyajin, aren't you?" Kaosu realized, her voice a mix of actual amazement and amusement. "I thought all of you monkeys had died out some years back!"_

_The Saiyajin woman bristled at that reminder. She then calmed herself back down and flashed Kaosu a cold smirk. "Well, as you can see, not all of the Saiyajin were completely wiped out as you thought. And by the way, you're not just standing before any mere, common Saiyajin. I am Amara, the Princess of the Saiyajin."_

_At that, Kaosu bowed mockingly toward the princess. "Oh, my. I'm standing before the presence of a Princess of a dead world. Lucky me," she said, her voice was so sharp with condescension and sarcasm that one could use as a sword in battle._

_"All right, that's it!" Amara barked, glowering at the goddess in cold fury for mocking her and her dead people. "I think I'm going to do everyone a favor and shut that big mouth of yours permanently!"_

_Then Kaosu finally laughed at Amara, flinging her head back and braying sheer mocking laughter at the Saiyajin no Oujo's challenge. The Princess fumed in rage before her, very close to running out of her already short supply of patience. After she'd finally sobered, Kaosu gave her a serious look._

_"Listen and listen good, Princess, because this will be your only warning," Kaosu said dangerously. "I am Kaosu, Goddess from the Realm of Chaos! I know you Saiyajin love to engage in violence, but I'm one opponent you want not part of. Particularly not today with the mood I'm in. So, you really only got two choices: either you stand there and just die like all the rest of these people, or you can try to fight me and still end up dying like all the rest of the people on this planet! But either way, you'll be having a reunion with your people soon. Though, knowing your race, you're too stupid so go for the first choice."_

_For a moment, Amara looked momentarily stunned to fine out that she was standing before a goddess. She abruptly smirked wickedly. _

_"You're so right!" Amara purred nastily in agreement. Then she fired a blast of red-white energy that caught Kaosu square in the chest. The Princess grinned horribly as the orange-haired woman was consumed in bloom of fire and smoke. "Well, that's the end of the big bad Chaos Goddess."_

_In the next instant, Amara's grin melted away in a mix of shock and irritation when the smoke had finally cleared, revealing a perfectly unscathed Kaosu. The orange-haired goddess flashed her a sinister smile._

_"You were saying?" she taunted._

_Really annoyed now, Amara charged at the goddess with a battlecry. Crossing the space between them, she caught Kaosu in the face with a right, sending her sailing through the air backwards. Amara pressed on in her attack. She flew after her opponent, disappearing then reappearing behind the soaring goddess, where she then delivered a vicious knee strike to the back of her spine, and then slammed her other knee into Kaosu's face. As Kaosu looked as if she was about to fall over backwards, Amara delivered a clasp-fisted punch to her face and sent her smashing earthward into a half-crumbled building- a result of Kaosu's handiwork earlier. The impact of the Chaos God's fall caused the rest of the building to come showering down and bury her._

_However, Amara didn't gloat this time in pre-triumph. She floated motionlessly in midair, watching and waiting for the Chaos Goddess. Kaosu didn't disappoint, for a moment later, the rubble from the fallen building had went scattering in different directions from a hurricane-like force, and standing in the center of it all was the Chaos Goddess herself, engulfed in black-white aura that resembled that of a Saiyajin aura. Even from the large distance between them, Amara could still see that "is that the best you got?" expression on the other woman's face._

_Gritting her teeth and growling furiously, Amara crafted a large purple-white orb of ki in her right hand. Thrusting it forward, she screamed, "GALAXY BUSTER!" She then fired the sphere forward in the form of a tremendous energy wave, exploding violently as soon as it hit the target. _

_Amara finally stopped firing after long minute, mostly because she was starting to grow a bit fatigue. The Saiyajin Princess growled in self-loathing, berating herself for expending so much ki so early in a battle. But she just couldn't help it. She just had to wipe that smug look off Kaosu's face. Hopefully, she'd done just that with her last-_

_The regal warrior half-growled, half-gasped when she noticed something strange afoot down below. The smoke caused from her attack was...was starting to drift inward where Kaosu had been standing from different directions at a fast rate- it was as if someone was sucking it all up with a vacuum cleaner. What in the hell was going on here?_

_Despite how warm it was today on Planet Alphasei, Amara froze solidly in place when she got her answer a moment later. Her eyes went wide and her jaw was slacked in an uncharacteristic look of disbelief, when all of the smoke had completely ebbed away...right down Kaosu's throat! And when she saw the malicious grin Kaosu directed at her almost immediately after being able to see her again, the Oujo couldn't suppress the cold shiver that went through her. _

_"W-What kind of idiot am I?" she asked herself. "What was I thinking... going up against a God!"_

_"Now then, my turn," Kaosu murmured decisively._

_Amara braced herself when she saw Kaosu suddenly clench her fists and rear her head back, inhaling deeply. As the goddess flung her head forward, she exhaled just as deeply, unleashing the very smoke she'd just swallowed in the form of an intense column of fiery ki. Amara swiftly moved out of the way when the flames reached her and lanced out at her with deadly intentions, causing it to fly harmlessly towards the planet's atmosphere and into space._

_The attack had been nothing more but a distraction. For in the next instant, she was completely caught off guard the orange-haired woman materialized before her with a feral grin on her face. Before she could even consider making a move, Kaosu lashed out at a beyond belief speed and rammed her knee into Amara's stomach. The Princess's eyes flew wide again and blood spurted between her lips, as she doubled over from the excruciating pain coursing through her body. With a growl, Kaosu brought her fist down on Amara's back like a hammer, and sent the other woman plummeting out of the sky. As Amara was heading towards the earth below, the only thought that ran through her mind was that if her crash didn't kill her (which she doubted), then it sure was going to hurt like hell._

_However, Amara had gotten an arms-length to the terrain when her ballistic trajectory suddenly jerked to a abrupt stop, nearly giving her a whiplash. It took Amara a moment to realize that she'd somehow managed not to crash into the ground after all, and it took another moment or so to realize that the reason why was because she had someone's hand wrapped firmly around her throat- which explained why she was having trouble with her breathing. And attached to that hand was Kaosu herself, grinning nastily at the defeated warrior._

_"I told you this would happen, and now look at you!" Kaosu mocked, shaking the Princess with every syllable. "You could've saved yourself from having to deal with all this pain and just let me kill you off quickly, but no, you just had to defy me. Oh, well. This has all been almost fun. Almost."_

_On that note, Kaosu had reared back her right fist, preparing to punch the Saiyajin's head completely off. Amara could only do more then hang limp in Kaosu's hand. She was about to die and there was nothing she could do about it-_

_Then..._

_"HAAAA!"_

_"Huh?" Kaosu said, looking sideways in confusion when she suddenly heard another battle-cry. However, the only thing the saw when she look, was the heel of someone's shoe as she was viciously kicked in the face. She let out a small cry of surprise, as she was forced to release her hold on Amara and was sent slamming backwards into the side another building, and was instantly buried again._

_Almost right away, Kaosu erupted out of the pile of rubble like lava out of a volcano, peforming a series of swift flips before finally touching down on the ground. The goddess quickly set her sights on the two newcomers who'd had the stupid audacity to interfere with her. Surprise struck her after assessing the two unfamiliar people. It wasn't because they were twins, an attractive boy with chin-length black hair and a enviously beautiful girl with medium blonde hair, with catlike blue eyes. It wasn't because they both looked as if they were eighteen. Nor was it because they were both garbed in strange attire. It had to do with the metallic scents they both reeked of._

_"Artificial Humans!" she said, looking closed to puzzled as she could get when she realized what they were. Loudly she inquired, "What pocket dimension did you two biomechanical brats crawl out of?"_

_The twins regarded her with matching looks of amusement. _

_"Oh, we come from a quaint little place on the other side of the universe known as Earth," the boy replied sarcastically. _

_"We saw you two having so much fun over here, we wanted to come join in," The girl, who was referred to as Juuhachi-gou, added. _

_Kaosu snorted with contemptuous laughter. "You two want to join in? Now that is truly hilarious!" Her lips curled into a evil smirk as her eyes briefly flicked from Amara, who was hunched over the ground, breathing hungrily for air, back to the cyborg twins. "You see that woman right there beside on the ground? She comes from one of the most barbaric species this universe has ever produced. But look at her now? She's licking her wounds, all because she tried to oppose me. And if you hadn't interrupted me, she wouldn't be able to lick her wounds! So, if she, a Saiyajin, can't even at least tickle me, what chances do either of you automatons have?"_

_The two looked at her blankly for a second. Their eyes then met, and they abruptly exploded with disdainful laughter of their own. It was Kaosu's turn to lift an eyebrow this time._

_"Did I miss a joke or something?" she asked._

_Both the twins' faces were twisted in superior looks. Smiling arrogantly, the boy said, "Yes, you missed a joke all right. The joke was that you actually believe we are in the same league with a common Saiyajin. We are much better! Much more ruthless than any Saiyajin can dare hope to dream, as well better than you or any other race out there in the cosmos. I am Juunana-gou and that's my sister Juuhachi-gou, we are Jinzouningen, the most supreme creations ever created in the universe. We never tire and we don't need to eat."_

_"And we also never age," his sister, Juuhachi-gou added. "Unlike you, old woman."_

_"Why, you little..." she hissed dangerously, her sneering expression transmuting into anger. "I'm going to turn you machines off permanently!" And so saying, Kaosu launched into action at godly speed, crossing the distance between her and the Jinzouningen faster than that of heartbeat. However, just as she swung at both of them, both Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou darted off in separate directions at a speed equal to that of her own._

_"W-What!" Kaosu stammered when she hit empty air. She missed! She couldn't believed she'd missed! How could she?_

_Unluckily for her, she'd been taking too long to figure, and never noticed the dark-haired figure approaching her at breakneck speed, until she saw clasped hands come down on the side of face cruelly and sent her flying to the side. As she went hurtling through the air yet again, she never noticed the blonde-haired girl materialized a few feet in front of her. When a nasty grin, Juuhachi-gou lashed out at the Chaos Goddess with a vicious front kick as soon as she came in close range, knocking her head sharply to the side. And before kaosu could even recover from the second attack, Juunana-gou snuck up and delivered a brutal knee strike to the Chaos Goddess's gut._

_Meanwhile, back down on the ground, like any Saiyajin, Amara was a quick healer and was almost fully recovered. The Saiyajin Princess clenched her fists and growled through gritted teeth down at the ground; her Saiyajin pride was more wounded than her body, as she couldn't believe that she'd been so thoroughly beaten by that girly-girl looking cretin, and only with two shots! How the hell can something so dainty-looking hit so damn hard? It's madness!_

_Momently, her fine hearing had finally picked up the familiar sound of fist and feet pulverizing flesh. Looking skyward, Amara's jaw dropped immediately for the second time at what she found herself looking at. That boy and girl- didn't they call themselves artificial humans and say their names were Number 17 and Number 18?- were fighting against Kaosu, and the Chaos Goddess was actually not faring too well. The two were like a couple of wolves ripping their prey into shreds, as they pummelled Kaosu relentlessly in perfect coordination._

_Where did they come from? And where did they get such strength and speed from?_

_Amara was able to find the answers to those questions, because in the next instant, she found herself scrambling away to safe distance as fast as she could, when Kaosu came barrelling out of the sky after a well-placed reverse roundhouse kick from Juuhachi-gou. The Chaos Goddess made a crash that was both painful looking and painful sounding, whipping up a big cloud of rock fragments and other Earth materials. While Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou had watched the whole scene with a look of utter boredom, Amara gawped at the spot Kaosu had landed in before turning that same look upward toward the two Jinzouningen._

_And as she stared up at the two, Amara felt herself growing rapidly annoyed by those "was that all she had" expressions on their faces. How was it that a pair of tincans could take the Chaos Goddess down so easily, and yet she, the Princess of all the Saiyajin, couldn't even put a dent in her? It just wasn't right, dammit!_

_If there was any speculation as to if Kaosu had been put down for good, it had quickly been put to an end when the Chaos Goddess erupted from the crater her body had dent into the terrain. The Chaos Goddess looked extremely furious._

_"Enough! I am not going to take anymore of this!" she snarled wrathfully. _

_"Hold it right there, fiend!" a new voice interjected._

_Kaosu whirled around at once, wondering who was interfering with her now. She didn't have to wonder for long. A pale light suddenly materialized a few yards away from her, and in that light stood a rather impressive man. It wasn't because he was good looking or anything- in fact, he looked to be as if he might be pushing over seventy, and yet he looked as healthy and strong as Juunana-gou did. Even in spite of the fact that he looked a whole lot thinner than the male cyborg did underneath the bronze vest and pants he wore. It was actually because of that invisible air of absolute power and authority that surrounded him like an unseen aura. Anyone in their right mind would think twice about wanting to start a confrontation with this person. While the trio below observed the newcomer in varying expressions of curiosity, Kaosu observed him as if he was something sticky that got affixed to her foot._

_"You trash just keep piling up in front of me," she sneered. "So who you are you supposed to be?" _

_"I am Zocho," the man answered in a deep, regal voice. With a sudden smirk, he added, "I'm a friend of Cosmos, and she sent me to give you her regards."_

_Kaosu's eyes widened, then slimmed dangerously as she caught onto the meaning behind his words. "If you're a friend of that person, then you and I have nothing to discuss! But as if trash like you can beat me. I'm ready for anything you have to throw at me!" _

_Zocho's mouth curled into a thin smile beneath his greyish goatee- it wasn't a very nice smile. "Even this?" Just as soon as he said that, Zocho held out his right hand, and a pearly light flared gently in his palm. When the light vanished, resting his palm now was a bronze sphere with a bronze, dragon statuette running across it._

_Juunana-gou, Juuhachi-gou and Amara stared up in genuine amazement. Not at the strange object Zocho had, but at how quickly all of the confidence Kaosu had just been brimming with had completely drained from her face and now she was gaping down at the whatever-it-was he was holding in dismay. _

_"The Dragon Sphere!" Kaosu lamented dismayingly. _

_Almost as if her voice had caused the reaction, the Dragon Sphere began to glow a eerie gold, intermixed with tendrils of mauve electricity. That glow then shot forward and hit Kaosu dead on. The onlookers down below were even further surprised when they saw, unlike when their attacks had hit them, Kaosu let out a drawn out scream of genuine pain as the energy bolt engulfed her. The Chaos Goddess was suffering the feeling of being burned alive. _

_"The road ends here, Kaosu!" the man said decisively. And then, pulling out a small, red crystal, the man began doing a spellspeech in an unknown language._

_In the next moment, Kaosu heard a noise like thunder rumbling somewhere far off, then crimson light swirled into existence around her in a vicious whirlwind. And, in what may very well be the last time, Kaosu let out a mixed cry of pure rage and fear as the lights solidified around her and incased her..._

Returning to the here and now, Kaosu scowled at that memory, shaking with barely restrained rage. When Zocho had sealed her away, she had actually thought that it would be the end of her. That she had truly been defeated, however, she should've known better. She should've known that the power of Chaos wouldn't abandon her, after all, she was its daughter...

_She slipped back into awareness. What in the world was going on here? Why was she standing in a cave? Hadn't she been battling against her former allies for betraying her? And why did her whole body feel so stiff?_

_She started to stretch, but winced from the movement as she was suddenly overcome by a strong wave of exhaustion. She fell down on one knee, and while she did so, her foot brushed against something like glass and she looked down curiously. Her brows creased in confusion when she took in the pile of shimmering, broken, red gemstones surrounding her feet. _

_She knew what this was! She'd seen it so many times, it was practically ingrained permanently in her brain. This was the Nirvana Seal, a "magical prison" constructed for the purpose of sealing away anyone or anything that came from Chaos. It was made from sorcery so powerful, that it could keep even someone of her power subdued._

_Her orange eyes flew wide as a horrid thought came to her. She hadn't been trapped in one of those things had she?_

_"Kaosu-sama?" _

_She didn't even grace the person to act startled, as she suddenly realized that she wasn't alone in this unfamiliar cave like she thought she was. Of course, there were things in any universe that seldom startled her. Lifting her head and looking forward, Kaosu was more mildly confused and curious than surprised at the group of odd looking people standing in front of her. Three of them had the air of some kind of authority surround them, and flanking them were several horrid, wingless bat-like creatures in armor._

_Kaosu gasped as she was abruptly hit with recognition. She knew these people!_

_"Oh, it's you! My Chaos Soldiers!" she said in shock. _

_"It's wonderful that you remember us, your majesty," the woman, Fuwa said, genuflecting in reverence toward the Chaos Goddess. Konran, Anaki and the foot soldiers followed her lead. _

_"What are you all doing here? I thought you were all back in the Chaos Dimension?" Kaosu asked. She tried to stand, but stumbled. Anaki and Konran both hastily rushed over to help their goddess back up to her feet._

_"We were, but we refused to obey those bastards!" Anaki said brusquely. Some of the grunts made noises of agreement. _

_"And so we were vanished as well," Fuwa added. _

_"That doesn't matter,"Konran said fiercely. "Our one and true leader will always be you, Kaosu-sama! But what happened to you? We were in quite a shock when we finally found you on this planet in such a state!" _

_For a moment, Kaosu frowned at the demon in something akin to puzzlement, wondering what he had meant by that. But then, a second later, memories started to flow through her mind in a rush. In her memories, she saw herself being betrayed by her own kind and banished to this realm, then destroying planet after planet when she went on a furious rampage, but when she arrived on one particular planet, she was confronted by a Saiyajin woman. Then, just as she was about to finish the Saiyajin woman off, these two cyborg twins come and jump her, and just as she was forced to transform to her true form, that warrior had showed up with the Dragon Sphere. And while he'd had her subdued, he performed a sealing spell on her and the last thing she remembered was seeing bright lights appearing around her. After recalling all of that, Kaosu's face twisted in cold fury. _

_"Yes, I remember what happened to me!" she said at last, her furious voice lashing out at her servants like a whip. "That Saiyajin and those Jinzouningen, and as well as that damned man had done to this to me! Unforgivable! This is absolutely unforgivable!" she screamed furiously; although her rage was directed at them, her minions couldn't help but to feel nervous as they actually felt sorry for the ones who'd been foolish enough to cross their Goddess._

"Damn him! Damn them! Damn them all!" Kaosu snapped in the present, her eyes glowing with rage. "They are all completely unforgivable!"

Kaosu lost her temper for a few moments. A aura of white fire snapped to life around the goddess, the power from it whipping out across the room to send tremors throughout the palace, making it shiver.

Rising off her throne, Kaosu walked over to a nearby window and stared out into the sky. For some reason, daylight never reached this planet, keeping the sky eternally lavender and making it seem as if it was always night. She liked it. It reminded her a lot of the Chaos Realm. It was always night there, with the sky forever colored orange-black and only stars that were seen being the Stars of Chaos, which the emblems engraved on her and her Chaos Demons' clothing were patterned after her. Even this planet had strange stars, though they were green and sickle-shaped.

Kaosu smiled. If she had to be trapped in this forsaken dimension, this world wasn't too bad of a place to live. She really would have to thank Zocho for this, just as soon as she found him.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I'll probably never be able to return back home," she said, resigned, smiling. "So, from this day forward, I declare this Lower Realm as my own, then. Under my power, I will bring this entire galaxy under my control, making it the new Chaos Realm. But first I must eliminate all opposition, including potential ones."

* * *

The next day found Juuhachi-gou wandering down one of the ship's corridors. Wanting some time to herself, she had decided to take a little private tour of the spaceship. Being alone like this, it gave her the chance to reflect on certain things, and one of those things that was at the forefront of her mind, was..sleeping with Vegeta. Just thinking about what she'd done with the Saiyajin Prince made her skin sear with shame and anger. It wasn't because it was a bad experience or anything. In fact, Vegeta was surprisingly very well _adept _in bed. It was just the principle of it all that made her feel so disgusted with herself.

She still had no idea how it even happen. One moment they were arguing, and then in the next she was inviting him to her bedroom. A slight shudder ran through Juuhachi-gou as unwelcome memories of that night in her room rose up in her head. Even now she remembered the taste and smell of that accursed man as they kissed...the feel of his naked body pressed against her own...his mouth and hands driving her wild for that final joining...

_*Stop that!*_ the Jinzouningen part in her admonished her, blushing. She violently forced her emotions back under control. What was wrong with her? She had to get a grip on herself!

How could she have allowed her hormones to cloud her judgment so severely? How could she have sex with the the very same man who was responsible for her being engulfed by Cell because he wanted a good fight? That only sent another wave of self-loathing through the blonde-haired woman. In spite of her feelings, though, it quietly astounded her on some level that she could still do things normal women could do. Other than loving to shop for clothes, that is. As much as she hated herself for this, but in a way, she actually owed Vegeta now.

Juuhachi-gou was still angrily mulling over that when paused after getting midway in the hall, when she noticed the solid walls on either side of her giving away to glass windows. And outside those windows, was a beautiful view the everlastingly, black, star-capped sky of space. She paused to stare out one of the windows on the left side of the hallway, the luminosity of the stars making her pale skin glow softly.

It had been such a long time since she'd travelled in space. It brought back to mind the first days her and her brother had been activated, back when Dr. Gero had created a space base for them to get more experience before they finally went to kill Son Goku like they were programmed to do. Which in turn, also brought back to mind her missing brother, and that made her stop looking out the window altogether and resume walking. She just didn't want to be think about her brother anymore. Because it only reminded her that she would never see him again.

Momentarily, her augmented instincts had acted a second too slow before she became aware of danger coming towards her. Because as she was passing by a door, a arm suddenly shot out of the room, wrapped itself around her neck and pulled her inside...

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	8. Seized By The Enemy

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story. **

**Chapter Eight: Seized by the Enemy**

* * *

As soon as she was inside the room, the person who'd been stupid enough to handle her in such a fashion had shown they were even stupider as they released her. She would teach this fool the price of their stupidity with their life. However, just as she tightened her fist and lashed out at whoever it was, she surprised into shock when her fist had been caught by a gloved hand...and on the other side of that hand stood a familiar figure who was half a head shorter than she was. The Jinzouningen woman's eyes snapped with blue fire as she scowled at the person.

"Vegeta! What is the meaning of this?" she barked softly, just barely able to keep her voice from extending outside the room. It was bad enough that she was alone with him in a dark room as it was, she didn't want others to hear them and walk in asking questions.

"We need to talk," Vegeta retorted. Though, it was quite clearly Juuhachi-gou didn't want to do any such thing.

"You son of a bitch! I have nothing to say to you! I out to-" Juuhachi-gou was cut off from her threat, when Vegeta covered her mouth with his hand again. He scowled up at her in vexation.

"Will you shut up and listen up, Jinzou-no, Juuhachi-gou?" Vegeta hissed softly. He didn't have to worry about Juuhachi-gou interrupting him this time, as he had her complete attention after calling her by her actual name for the second time. Realizing that, he lowered his hand from her mouth and also released her hand.

"Well, what the hell do you want with me?" Juuhachi-gou demanded after regaining her composure, regarding the Saiyajin frostily.

Vegeta didn't answer her right away, however. Instead, he started pacing back and forth before the blonde woman, much to her irritation. After a moment or so, he finally stopped and turned back to face her, giving her an appraising look. Just as he started to speak again...

"Everyone, to the bridge! This instant!" Amara's voice boomed through the intercom.

Vegeta swore under his breath in annoyance. One thing he hated almost as much as he hated Kakarott was being interrupted whenever he had something important to say. Juuhachi-gou, on the other hand, was grateful for the distraction and quickly turned on her heel to walk out of the room. For a moment, Vegeta's accustomed scowl intensified, and then he exited the room as well.

Moments later, everyone entered the bridge, with Juuhachi-gou and Vegeta coming into the room last. Kuririn and Amara both became aware of this, however, while the former didn't seem to think much of it, the latter didn't comment due to the matter at hand.

"Amara, is there trouble?" Piccolo asked, looking ready for any danger.

"It's not that, I wanted to show you that we're almost there," Amara replied. Turning back towards the viewport, she pointed forward at the light bluish planetoid they were approaching, although it was still some distance away. Everyone looked up in surprise.

"That's Planet Omegasei?" Gohan inquired.

"That's really where this Kaosu stays?" Kuririn asked, not expecting it to look the way it did. Somehow, he had expected a planet with the name 'Omegasei' to look much more sinister.

"No, she still stays further away," Amara replied. "But we still have to make a stop here."

"Why should we?" Vegeta asked.

"Because this is where we'll be getting a Dragon Sphere from to use against Kaosu," Amara replied. She brought back out the ruby again, which was glowing like a minature sun inside the bridge. "This is where Zocho lives."

* * *

Seated on her throne, Kaosu's features lit up in wicked accomplishment.

"Konran! Fuwa! Anaki! Get in here now!" she called.

At once, her three loyal Chaos Generals materialized in front of her. They immediately bowed before her.

"Is something wrong, my lady?" Konran asked worriedly. He and his comrades had felt their goddess's ki spike sharply seconds ago.

Kaosu barely noticed they were still in there, still relishing in what she had just done.

"I almost can't believe it...I've done it! I've done it!" she shouted joyously.

Seeing their mistress cheer about some unseen achievement, the trio exchanged looks of bewilderment. Though at the same time, the three were relieved to see the tremendous improvement in their mistress's stamina and strength from extremely feeble state they had found her in after freeing her from the Nirvana Seal.

"Kaosu-sama, what is it? What have you done?" Konran inquired inquisitively.

"I have finally found him!" Kaosu stated, grinning fiendishly. "That rat Zocho- I know where he resides now! And it's all thanks to Amara, Juuhachi-gou, and their friends!"

* * *

A stove timer chimed softly in completion.

"Ah, the stew's done!" Zocho remarked, wandering over to the stove. Picking up the wooden spoon off the sink counter, he dipped it inside the pot, stirred it a few times, before he finally scooped some of the concoction to sample it. For a brief time, his expression was thoughtful as he gave the stew a full inspection with his tongue. A second later, the results had come in and his face melted into an expression of pleased accomplishment.

"Still nowhere near the best stew around, but I'm not complaining," he said good-naturedly, laughing a bit as he reflected back on his earlier failures as a cook. Most of the times, the meals he cooked came out halfway decent- just like the vegetable stew he'd just fixed. But then, there were other times when his cooking would go completely haywire and he would find himself wanting to rip his own throat out because the food had been so awful.

After filling a bowl full of stew, grabbing a eating utensil, and getting something to drink, Zocho eventually made his way over to the kitchen table near an open window. As he was taking precaution to protect his clothes from getting stains while eating by making a makeshift bib with a napkin, the merry sound of birds singing drifted into the sorcerer's home through the window he was sitting by. The sound made a smile split his wizened face in half, and he gazed outside.

His portal presented him the picture of a perfect, beautiful summer day. Had anyone from Earth been there with him right now, they wouldn't have been able to discern that they were actually on a world a great distance across the galaxy, other than the planet being much smaller. Like there, this world's skies were a deep azure, white wispy clouds drifted through the air, and an orange sun, though a bit lighter shade than Earth's sun, hovered high in the air, blazing cheerfully with warmth that filled every part of the planet.

It didn't bother him one bit that he was the only living person residing on the planet. Being a man who enjoyed his privacy, he rather enjoyed it. Plus, someone of his station didn't have much time to dwell on loneliness. A sad yet bleak expression suddenly slid on his face, mostly because he knew that the peace he's enjoyed for so long would soon be interrupted.

Even from where he sat, he could sense what was happening beyond his world. From the moment Kaosu had been freed from her seal, Zocho had known immediately. Right before he had neutralized her, a friend had warned him that an evil like Kasou couldn't be contained forever, so he had been prepared for the day of her return. He was also aware that she and her faction were searching desperately for him. Normally, he would've allowed himself to feel smug about such a thing. With the magical concealment spell he had up around his planet all the time, not even Kaosu's God Eyes could penetrate through it...That is unless she wasn't using the eyes of someone else who could see his planet, and he was very sure that was now the case.

Following that battle with Kaosu years ago, Zocho had handed the Saiyajin no Oujo, Amara, an enchanted ruby. He smiled a bit as he remembered her looking at him as if he'd lost his mind, when he had told her to hang onto it and that if it ever started to glow, it only meant that Kaosu had escaped, and also doubled as a tracker to locate him if she ever needed his help. Speaking of which, he was also expecting her to show up very soon as well.

Unfortunately that meant Kaosu would be appearing too.

Abruptly, Zocho heard a strange whirring sound in the air. Looking up, surprise only vaguely graced his features, when he saw a large ship descending out of the sky and touching down on a grassy hill not that many yards away from his home.

"And so it begins," he muttered solemnly.

With that, Zocho headed toward the door and stepped outside to go greet his guests. A short while later, Zocho crested the top of a hill, and down below he saw the Saiyajin woman, the Jinzouningen woman, along with some others he wasn't familiar with at all. Almost at once, they all noticed him. He smiled at them friendly.

"Good, you've all made it!" he called down congenially.

"So, he is Zocho?" Piccolo asked.

"Yes," Amara asked. "Don't be fooled by his outward appearance."

Vegeta briefly glanced in his sister's direction, before he shifted his gaze back onto Zocho. As he evaluated the warrior-sorcerer, he definitely didn't seem all that formidable like Amara had spoke of him as. Then again, Vegeta allowed, he wasn't a warlock, so perhaps this guy's true strength lie in his magic.

"Well, don't just stand there. Follow me, my cabin is just below this hill." Beckoning them with his hand, Zocho turned and started to descend down the hill once more.

"Who does he think he's ordering around?" Vegeta grumbled, but nevertheless, he still followed after him like the others did.

The warriors walked behind Zocho in a straggling line, with Vegeta bringing up the rear, looking more annoyed than usual. As the warrior sorcerer led them back to his home, some of the warriors actually took the moment to take in the beauty of the planet. The neatly manicured, lush green grass, the wildflowers that peeked out here and there to enrich things, the surrounding verdant woodlands, and fishes jumping in and out of a nearby brook that ended in miniature waterfalls; those things, added with the tropical weather, made this place seem like paradise.

As they kept walking, Juuhachi-gou looked up when a flock of birds flew overhead. Nearby, she noticed a couple of squirrels playing, as well as some other forest creatures. Imperceptibly, she smiled at it all; she knew Juuroku-gou would have loved to visit such a place.

"Does anyone else live here besides you?" Gohan inquired curiously.

"Other than myself and all the animals, no," answered Zocho, looking almost regretful. "I am the only humanoid living on this planet."

"Wow, I couldn't imagine being the only person on an entire planet," Kuririn said. He looked sympathetically at the old man. "You must get terribly lonely here."

Surprisingly, Zocho laughed. "Oh, don't feel sorry for me. The animals are all the friends I need."

So saying, Zocho suddenly stopped, turned toward the sky, placed two fingers and his mouth, and then whistled shrilly into the air. A moment later, a colorful bird emerged in the sky above him and his visitors, circling over their heads twice before he landed neatly on Zocho's waiting outstretched arm. The bird cheeped loudly to the sorcerer, almost seeming to be telling him how happy it was to see him again. Smiling, Zocho reached down into the right pocket of his panets, and pulled out some conveinent bird seeds. Eagerly, the young bird gobbled it up. After it was finished, the bird cheeped at Zocho again, as if saying thanks, and then it flew off again.

Vegeta rolled his eyes in irritation.

"Yes, the animals keep me more than enough company," Zocho repeated. Turning toward his guests, he added, "Besides, when I first created this world, it was with the intent of being more as a lookout than a home for me and other races to flourish on."

Some of the warriors made noises of surprise.

"You created this place by yourself?" Piccolo asked, though didn't sound incredulous in the least.

Zocho nodded proudly.

"Just what exactly is this a place a lookout for?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

"Entities such as Kaosu," Zocho answered, looking a bit grim. "

A short walk later, Zocho was leading the warriors up a small flight of wooden steps that led up the porch connected to his cabin. He opened the door and stepped inside, the warriors following him inside. The inside of Zocho's cabin was well-kept, felt cozy to some of the warriors even, although he didn't have much furniture. There was a dusty old couch, a small coffee table standing on a brown rug, a wooden stand leaning against the far wall, with each shelf covered in odds and ends of someone who obviously practiced magic, a closed door to the side that suggested a bedroom was behind there; a kitchen was connected to the living room, with there being obvious signs of something previously been cooked.

"Would anyone like something to drink?" Zocho offered.

"No. We don't have time for that," Amara said, sounding impatient. "Just give us the Dragon Sphere so we can be on our way."

"Very well, then," Zocho said. He headed toward the shelf with the strange odds and ends, and searched the top shelf, the second shelf, and then the bottom shelf.

That's where Zocho found success. He had finally found the mystical sphere amidst some old candles in one of his drawers in the kitchen. Turning, Zocho headed over to the Saiyajin Princess and prepared to give her the crystal-

However, before Zocho could even fully place the Dragon Sphere in Amara's hand, their meeting was suddenly disrupted by a loud, creaking, ripping noise that surprised some of them into jumping. Everyone quickly spun around toward the source of the disturbing sound...just in time to see the entire wall on the right side of the cabin get torn completely off. The Z-Senshi and Zocho were all appalled. Though, not because of witnessing a wall tearing away from a house seemingly on its own. It actually had to do with the group of four unfriendly looking individuals that stood where the wall once were. All of them wore horrible grins on their faces, but none were as horrible as the one that adorned the face of the orange-haired woman standing in front of the obviously uninvited guests.

"Kaosu!" Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and Zocho gasped in unison. The Jinzouningen and Saiyajin Princess immediately drew back into a fighting stance.

Kaosu grinned, enjoying the looks of shock on everyone's faces. Right away, her gaze fell upon the three had just spoken her name- Amara in particular.

"This time, I won't let you run out so quickly, Amara," Kaosu stated. She then looked to Juuhachi-gou and Zocho. "And if it isn't my two other favorite people. How have you been?"

"T-that's Kaosu?" Kuririn asked, in the tone of someone who had definitely been expecting something else.

Piccolo clenched his fists, beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he stared across the room at Kaosu. He could feel the continuous negative energy radiating from her as well, and it disturbed him a lot. It was an oppressive sensation, almost bearing down on him entirely; he felt so insignificant. Piccolo had thought he would be ready to come face-to-face against a Chaos Goddess, but he wasn't prepared for this at all.

Then, without even being invited in, Kaosu stepped fully into the house. The Z-Senshi and Zocho instinctively stepped back a few steps- well, everyone except for Vegeta. The Prince stood his ground, arms folded, observing the woman he's heard so many terrible things about with the expression of one who's obviously not very impressed with what he was seeing. In fact, he looked more annoyed than anything else right now.

With a determined growl, Zocho thrust the Dragon Sphere forward toward Kaosu, knowing it would instantly incapacitate her-

-and from out of nowhere, a bolt of black-white lightning careened through the air to hit Zocho in the back of his hand. Zocho let out a sharp cry of pain, dropping the Dragon Sphere to cradle his now bleeding hand with his other one. The Dragon Sphere fell to the floor and tumbled away, vanishing between the stove and the refrigerator.

Everyone instantly looked in the direction where the blast had come from, just in time to see Fuwa lower her right hand. She and the other two Chaos Soldiers flashed them all an ugly grin.

"Those guys look kinda tough," Kuririn said uneasily.

"Hmph! Maybe for you, but I could take them," Vegeta replied with his usual confidence.

"Allow me to introduce you all to my Chaos Generals," Kaosu announced, smirking. "Meet Konran, Fuwa, and Anaki. See, I have friends of my own."

"You won't be using the Dragon Sphere on our goddess while we're here!" Fuwa declared.

"Or seal her up again!" Anaki added gruffly.

"Either surrender or die miserably,' Konran added.

"Surrender?" Piccolo scoffed. "You must be joking."

"We've fought a lot worse than you all!" Gohan said, frowning.

Closing his eyes in concentration, Zocho mumbled some undecipherable words under his breath. His left hand glowed in accordance with a soft green light, pulling blood back inside the wound and sealing it up completely. Afterwards, Zocho wiggled his fingers experimentally; yes, it seemed to be working fine.

"Clever trick, but your magic won't save you this time," Kaosu sneered. She turned toward Juuhachi-gou and Amara, and then the other warriors. "It won't save any of you, and neither will the Dragon Sphere! Did you fools really think I would allow you to succeed with your sneak attack on me? I won't be caught off guard this time!"

There was a communal noise of surprise from the Warriors.

"You knew we were coming the whole time?" Kuririn exclaimed. "Oh, that's just great!"

Kaosu laughed nastily. "Of course I did! With the use of my 'God Eyes', I knew about you from the very beginning. So, in other words, you fools have been walking towards your death all this time!"

"Would you shut the hell up, already!" Vegeta finally snapped. "You yap more than a damn hen!"

"Bastard!" Anaki growled.

"No one speaks to our Goddess that way and lives!" Fuwa snarled.

Although he said nothing, the murderous expression on Konran's face promised a brutal end for the Saiyajin Prince.

Frowning, Vegeta drew back in a readying stance.

"Hold," Kaosu told her Chaos Soldiers, holding a hand out in front of them just when it looked like they were about to charge. As always, her soldiers obeyed her order instantly. Kaosu was watching Vegeta, smiling even more wickedly."Oh, well, my day just has gotten better. I'm standing in the presence of a Vegeta of the Saiyajin."

"I'll make you regret saying to so lightly," Vegeta said, his face caught between a sneer and scowl.

"And I see you've obviously inherited the arrogance of the Vegetas before you," Kaosu said, looking a bit more serious. "You Vegetas are all alike. Thick-headed, arrogant, spoiled brats, and all talk. But I bet you're just great in bed. Isn't that right, Juuhachi-gou?" she asked, winking at the blonde cyborg.

Juuhachi-gou flushed at the implication of her words.

Vegeta grimaced.

Kuririn saw this and his heart sunk into his feet.

Amara looked at the two of them in disbelief, before scowling coldly angrily.

*_What? Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou? Together? I don't believe it,* _Kuririn screamed in denial inside his mind.

"Do not underestimate her," Zocho warned Vegeta, walking to his side. "She's quite terrifying!"

"Don't tell me how to fight!" Vegeta snapped.

As if he had just triggered off some silent cue, Konran, Anaki and Fuwa moved into action.

"CHAOS CANNON!"

"CHAOS BOMBER!"

"CHAOS TEMPEST!"

The three attacks converged and headed straight for the Z-Soldiers and Zocho.

"Everyone, look out!" Kuririn screamed, already leaping out of the way.

In the next instant, the entire cabin went up in a tremendous explosion, sending tremors throughout the entire planetoid. Animals in the nearby forests desperately sought shelter from this violent maelstrom. Moments later after the smoke finally cleared, Zocho's once proud cabin was now nothing more than a pile of rubble. Fortunately, the Z-Senshi and Amara had made it to higher grounds in the sky before the attack had hit.

"Whew! That was too close!" Kuririn sighed in relief.

"Dammit!" Vegeta swore, looking furious. He couldn't believe he had almost allowed himself to be caught off guard just then.

"The Dragon Sphere!" Amara exclaimed, grimacing. "Don't tell me it was destroyed!"

"Zocho-san! Where is Zocho-san?" Gohan asked.

It was then that the group realized that Zocho was no longer with them.

"Is this who you're looking for?" Kaosu's mocking voice called to them.

Like lent drawn to a magnet, the warriors turned in the direction the voice came from at once. They immediately gasped. Kaosu and her three Chaos Generals were hovering a hundred yards away from them, unscathed of course, however, trapped in armlock from Kaosu was Zocho himself. The sorcerer was struggling desperately to get free, but Kaosu's strength was just too much for him to resist.

"Zocho!" Piccolo half-growled, half-gasped.

Kaosu grinned devilishly at them. She then called up to them, "I win!"

Following those words, Kaosu released Zocho's arm...only to plunge her fingers into his skull. Her Chaos Generals immediately drew back at a careful distance, while a sickly gold light silhouetted both Kaosu and the screaming Zocho. The Warriors stared in varying levels of horror, while the Chaos Generals chuckled in malicious delight. Even now they could feel their Goddess's ki rising sharply, while Zocho's ki declined at the same speed.

"We've got to save him!" Gohan said, he tried to hurry and do just that, however, Piccolo caught him by the arm.

"It's too late, kid," he said, shaking his head grimly.

Gohan could only look on in dismay. The other Warriors watched the scene bleakly.

"Dammit!" Kuririn growled, feeling more helpless right now than he's ever felt.

In a sudden burst of light, Kaosu had devoured the last of Zocho's ki. The unfortunate sorcerer's skin was now as white as a sheet, and his eyes had no life in them at all. Removing her fingers from his head, Zocho hit the ground like a discarded doll.

For a moment, Kaosu just stood there, eyes shut in an unreadable mask. Then her eyes snapped open wide in euphoria, as she released her fully-restored power. Those with ki-sensing abilities immediately felt it, their eyes widening in amazement from the power they could feel from her. The Z-Senshi hadn't felt something so sinister like this since the first appearance of Perfect Cell.

"Finally, Kaosu-sama is back to her old self," Konran said elatedly, he, Fuwa, and Anaki bowing toward Kaosu.

"Monster!" Gohan growled, disgusted with Kaosu's actions.

But Kaosu ignored him, looking directly at Juuhachi-gou and Amara. Her grin widened.

"Now, it's your turn!" she said to them.

"Forget them! I'm your opponent!" Vegeta declared, his hair spiking gold as he transformed. He zoomed forward to meet her head on, hand balling into a fist and rearing back. He swung, only to hit vacant air as Kaosu had already ducked the blow. Grinning, Kaosu responded punch to the stomach, seizing up Vegeta's diaphragm. The blow sent Vegeta plummeting to the terrain, where he landed jarringly like a bomb.

"Apparently, Vegeta, you'd have an easier time of pulling down Juuhachi-gou's pants than beating me!" she called after him. She turned to Amara and Juuhachi-gou, who instantly got in a fighting stance. Kaosu looked unimpressed. "Oh, don't even bother!" Proving her point, Kaosu lifted her right hand and fired streams of golden energy at the Saiyajin Princess and the Jinzouningen, wrapping around them in a single sphere, which shrunk and shrunk until they were hand-sized. With a crook of a finger, Kaosu called the energy sphere back to her, where she caught them with her right hand.

"Juuhachi-gou-san! Amara-san!" Kuririn shouted.

"Amara-san!" Gohan shouted.

The two then lunged in.

"I won't allow any of you trash to interfere with Kaosu-sama!" Konran stated vehemently, right hand stretched out and already filled with ki. He fired. Completely caught off guard, Gohan was hit full on by the red-white energy blast. The half-Saiyajin was sent flying backwards into Kuririn, knocking them both down to the terrain.

"Gohan! Kuririn!" Swearing, Piccolo whirled toward Konran and rose up into the air, the first two fingers of his right hand glowing with energy. "MAKANKO-"

Piccolo was rudely cut off, with Anaki and Fuwa came in from both sides to deliver a brutal double shoulder slam, stunning him. Anaki crushed his elbow into the side of the green warrior's face, and then Fuwa attacked with a knee strike to the Namekseijin's chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. Anaki and Fuwa clasped each other's hands and topped off their assault with a double lariat, sending Piccolo crashing through a stand of trees in the forest before he eventually crashed in the center of a clearing.

Victorious, the Chaos demons went to go rejoin their Goddess's side. Kaosu took in all of the carnage. Zocho was dead, Amara and Juuhachi-gou's team were quite incapacitated, and she had the two women themselves. She had accomplished what she had set out to do.

"Good job, my warriors-eh! They're getting back up." Kaosu was referring to Vegeta, Gohan, and Kuririn slowly standing back up. "I'm impressed!"

The Chaos Generals stared down at them in equal annoyance.

"Fuwa, Anaki!" Konran called. "Let's take care of them once and for all!"

Nodding, the two leveled both their hands at the three warriors just as their leader did.

"On second thought, I have a better idea," Kaosu spoke up. Her warriors immediately turned to her.

"Kaosu-sama?" Anaki asked.

Ignoring him, Kaosu called down to the Senshi below, "If you really want to settle things, then come to Omegasei. I shall enjoy watching your last few moments of resistance!"

With the invitation given, Kaosu and her Chaos Generals vanished with their two captives in sparks of multicolored lights. And in their wake, they left four stunned warriors.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	9. Break Out

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Nine: Break Out**

* * *

Once more, Amara was starting to think that she had gotten herself into something that was too overwhelmingly big for her to handle.

Juuhachi-gou and Amara sat on individual rusty benches, placed side-by-side, in a stygian cell. Both were smoldering with anger from being captured so easily by their common enemy. What made the two women even angrier was the fact that they could escape the cell very easily, yet at the same time really couldn't; Kaosu didn't bother even bother to post guards outside their cell to stand guard over them, and the goddess's arrogance infuriated Amara to no end! Somehow or another, she would bring Kaosu to her knees once and for all.

"Damn her...We almost had it! We almost had the Dragon Sphere!" Amara snarled, mostly to herself, her fists shaking with impotent anger. Her mind was replaying the meeting she and the others had had with Zocho. He'd been so close to placing the the bronze orb in her hand; even now that hand was still faintly tingling from the energies radiating inside the Dragon Sphere. Then, Kaosu had come and ruined everything.

"The others are probably on their way here right now," Juuhachi-gou said a moment later; her statement had been more of her saying something that she knew from experience, not to mollify Amara of her worries.

"Oh, you think so?" Amara asked sarcastically, obviously not convinced. "If any of them had a damn brain in their heads, they would go home and forget all about us."

Juuhachi-gou looked at her that time. The faintest trace of an ironic smile curled her lips. "Do you really think that brother of yours is going to run away after what Kaosu did to him?" she asked.

Amara couldn't help but to agree with her. "You have a point there. Knowing Vegeta, he's probably racing full speed over here in the ship as we speak. A Vegeta never takes humiliation very well."

_*Don't I know it,*_ Juuhachi-gou agreed privately.

Almost as if she'd heard Juu's thoughts, Amara sneered disdainfully at her blonde cell mate. "And since when have you've become such an expert on Vegeta? Humph, I guess lying with him every night would help with that, wouldn't it?"

As soon as those words left her mouth, the Princess abruptly found herself doubled over backwards on the bench she was sitting on. A hand was wrapped tightly around her throat, another one was hovering just mere inches from her face in a fist, and the owner of both those hands were glaring down at her with burning anger in her catlike eyes.

"Let me tell you something..." Juuhachi-gou hissed. "I am REALLY pissed right now! The last thing I want right now is to be reminded of what me and that brother of yours did! So, if you want me to show you what I can do when I'm in a foul mood, then by all means keep running that big mouth of yours!"

Like any Saiyajin, Amara bristled rather than cower from being menaced. She glared up at the Jinzouningen with fierce defiance in her dark eyes. Juuhachi-gou was very fortunate at that moment that she was the stronger one out of the two of them, because if not, and she if had done what she was doing right now, she would've done something more horrible to the blonde than what Kaosu had done to Zocho.

After another second or so, Juuhachi-gou had concluded that Amara had gotten the point, so she released her and returned back over to her side of the cell. As Amara rose back up to a sitting position on her bench, she glowered at Juuhachi-gou in cold rage, while rubbing at her slightly bruised throat where Juuhachi-gou's hand had been only seconds ago.

_*That was the third time you've brought dishonor to my pride, Jinzouningen!*_ she fumed quietly. *_I don't care what it takes. I am going to survive this thing with Kaosu just to make you pay!"_

* * *

So far, it was a long and quiet journey to Omegasei for the four male Z-Senshi members. Once they'd gathered their wits from the bad episode they'd just had at Zocho's cabin with the surprise arrival of Kaosu, and the subsequent abduction of Amara and Juuhachi-gou, they immediately headed towards the ship and went to go rescue their captive teammates.

Of course, Vegeta wasn't actually going to Omegasei with the intentions of rescuing neither Juuhachi-gou nor his sister. As far as he was concerned, it was their own fault for letting themselves get captured. He was going there for a different reason, which being the humiliation Kaosu had dealt him. He was really beginning to agree with a saying his father had once said to him when he was a child: "When it comes to women, it's always the beautiful ones that can be the most dangerous, my son."

And he'd been fooled twice. First by Juuhachi-gou, and then by Kaosu. He'd quietly berated himself for getting fooled by Kaosu's appearance; she had just seemed so fragile-looking, more so than even Juuhachi-gou had to him, that he hadn't expected her to be as fierce and powerful as he'd heard her to be. But then he had _felt_ her power, and he knew that was only a glimpse of what she could due. Privately, that experience had been more dismaying for him than it had been when he'd felt the power of the likes of Furiiza and Cell. There had seemed to be no end to it; it had been as if she possessed a well that had no bottom.

But that feeling of alarm at seeing she lived up to what Amara and Juuhachi-gou had told him had been replaced. There was now only a feeling of focused, cold rage within him. He would show her what happens when someone crossed the path of the Prince of all Saiyajin.

In spite of the situation, the others were going into this battle with as much confidence, if not more, than Vegeta. It was because of the aces they had up each of their sleeve. One of them was Gohan and his Super Saiyajin Two strength, and the second one was the Dragon Sphere, just in case something goes wrong; even Vegeta agreed with the latter, more or less. Before they'd left, Kuririn had come upon the Dragon Sphere that Zocho had intended to give to them to use against the Goddess, and brought it along with them; and to pay a bit of respect to him, Gohan and Kuririn had given the Sorcerer as good of a burial as they could in the backyard of his house- much to the irritation of an impatient Vegeta.

However, there was also something else that kept plaguing the hairless warrior's thoughts. It had been those smart remarks Kaosu had made.

_"You Vegetas are all alike. Thick-headed, arrogant, spoiled brats, and all talk. But I bet you're just great in bed. Isn't that right, Juuhachi-gou?" _

_"Apparently, Vegeta, you'd have a much better chance pulling Juuhachi-gou's pants down than fighting me!"_

When he'd first heard that, he'd just been too frightened about the mere presence of the renowned Chaos Goddess to even think about the implication behind her words. Yet, in the all-pervasive grim silence in the bridge, he couldn't help but to reflect on it now.

Were Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou really an item? He hadn't been able to tell at first. He didn't even think Vegeta would ever like Juuhachi-gou after she broke his arm, or Juuhachi-gou would ever like him after he stepped aside to let Cell come after her. Sometimes, though, when he was with one of them, the other one was somewhere else. Then when they were together, they hardly said a word to each other. Maybe that was just it? They were trying to hide their relationship from everyone else? They were having an affair; yeah, that's it! When they were around each other, they acted distant and indifferent to one another so no one would know, but then when they were alone, they were all lovey-dovey.

Kuririn gave himself a mental shake for thinking that last part. He didn't even know how he could ever picture Vegeta or Juuhachi-gou acting lovey-dovey? As ruthless as the two of them were when it came to fighting, them acting lovey-dovey, even when they were alone, was in the realm of impossibility to him. Still, they probably must like each other whenever no one was around.

Unnoticed by the others, Kuririn's shoulders slumped forlornly. He didn't even know why he was so surprised that the cool, beautiful blonde woman would want to be with Vegeta then with him. In spite of his overly inflated ego and arrogant attitude, he had to grudgingly admit that the Saiyajin was better looking than him. And he was also a Prince! Who would want to go with just a simple man when they could be involved with royalty? And now that he remembered, he distinctly recalled Vegeta referring to Juuhachi-gou as a beautiful, young woman when they'd all first laid eyes on the psychopathic killers from Koji's timeline. And that was another factor that should've told him that he had no chance with Juuhachi-gou. Somewhere in another world, they had a son together.

Though, even after he'd found all that out, he'd still had a little hope that maybe...that maybe he could win Juuhachi-gou over as time passed. He'd entertained that little thought ever since she surprised him by kissing him on the cheek- which ironically had been the same day Juuhachi-gou beat up Vegeta. It had been because of his swift attraction towards her that had made it so he hadn't deactivated her that time when Bulma had given him the controller, and also why he risked his life to protect her before and after Cell had absorbed her. Those thoughts made him a little angry.

How could she choose Vegeta over him? He'd risked life and limb for her, trying to keep her safe twice. Meanwhile, Vegeta had been the one who kept trying to kill her. He was the one that allowed Cell to absorb her! And he also tried to destroy her even after Cell had regurgitate her back out!

And what had he gotten out of all this? Nothing! No thank you, no nothing!

Kuririn let out a resigned mental sigh. Well, what was done was done, and knew that working himself into a bitter depression wouldn't change the fact that Juuhachi-gou apparantly would rather be with a arrogant blowhard like Vegeta then with a decent, simple guy like him. And knowing that he couldn't really compete against Vegeta, he was just going to resigned himself to the glum fact that he was going to live out a life of celibacy for the rest of his life. Oh, why was it the nice guys who finished last?

More indeterminable time slipped by as the ship continued its steady course toward Omegasei. No one had still spoken a word ever since leaving the home of the now deceased Zocho, the heavy significance of what they were about to get into hung over them all like a cloud, keeping them all wrapped up in their own individual thoughts. It had felt as if several months had passed by before, finally, a planetoid painted in a sickly purple color slowly but surely came into view on the screen.

"There! That has to be Omegasei!" Vegeta declared, a very Saiyajin smirk quirking his shapely lips as his dark eyes gleamed with excitement and anticipation.

Everyone else drew up on either side of him for a closer look.

Below on Omegasei, outside the palace, Fuwa, Konran, and Anaki stood a short distance away from castle with numerous foot soldiers. As they were scanning the skies, they suddenly noticed a twinkle of light.

"It would seem that our guests have finally arrived," Konran remarked, grinning horribly.

"Let's give those bastards a greeting they'll never forget!" Anaki declared, clenching a ham-sized fist in readiness. Beside him, a smirking Fuwa nodded in agreement.

* * *

Within her chamber, the rejuvenated Kaosu straighted up in her seat and smirked. She then spoke.

"Come to me."

In the next instant, Juuhachi-gou and Amara stared around in shock as those same streams of gold light that Kaosu had trapped them in back at Zocho's cabin suddenly snaked up out of the floor around them. Before they had time to react, the lights engulfed them and the benches they were sitting on and pulled them down into the later, those same lights rose back out of the floor in an entirely different room, depositing the Jinzouningen and the Saiyajin and the benches they were sitting on, and then vanishing entirely.

Both the women immediately jumped to their feet, determined not to be taken off guard like that again.

"Damn it! How dare she toy me like this!" Amara said angrily, looking this way and that. "Kaosu! Show yourself this instant!"

"What is she up to now?" Juuhachi-gou wanted to know, looking around the room as well. "And where are we?"

The room they were in was quite a strange one, and massive too, with a single window. The walls and ceiling were patterned in a way that made the two feel as if they were standing out in space...a space that appeared as if it had been set blaze in orange-red flames surrounded by stars. The square-tiled floor they stood on was also colored orange-red. On the far side of the room, there was a darkened space in front of the wall. Abruptly, the darkness was lifted up like a curtain, revealing a gold throne and an all-too familiar person perched upon it.

"Welcome to my throne, ladies," Kaosu greeted congenially. Juuhachi-gou and Amara turned toward her at once.

"Kaosu!" the two chorused.

"You two have no idea how long I've been waiting to see you again," Kaosu said, her voice cold and soft like falling snowflakes. "What an appropriate away to settle things? We met on planet Alphasei, now we meet to end things once and for all on planet Omegasei. Even though you weren't the ones who sealed me away inside that damned crystal, you're both just as guilty for humiliating me that day...and that is absolutely intolerable!" The bitter goddess's visage was completely twisted in rage. Looking at Juuhachi-gou, she added, "And don't think your brother is going to be disqualified from my wrath just because he's not here! I'll get him in time, even if I have to rip open this universe to do so!"

"Just forget about my brother. He's already..." Juuhachi-gou paused in her words for a moment. Then she rallied herself and finished her words, "He's already dead."

"Oh? Well, what a pity," Kaosu said remorselessly. "You can just give him my regards then when I send you to the Next World!"

"Idiot! You think we're just going to stand here and let you have your way?" Amara sneered. "While you were imprisoned all those years, we got stronger."

"Why yes, we may not have the Dragon Sphere, but the situation still isn't hopeless," Juuhachi-gou added, smirking.

"And how do you figure that?" Kaosu asked. "You two only have each other to rely on this time. There's no one who can seal me up, and I have completely recovered all of my strength and stamina. What can you possibly do now?"

"Plenty!" Amara shot back. Following those words, she transformed into a Super Saiyajin.

Kaosu stared back in actual surprise. "This transformation...What is this?"

Amara smiled in disdainful amusement."That's right. The little Goddess here has never seen a Super Saiyajin before, have you?"

"A Super Saiyajin?"

Kaosu frowned. Living as long as she's had, Kaosu had always prided herself of knowing just about every race that existed in any universe, and also knowing what they abilities they did or didn't have. As far as the Saiyajin went, the only notable ability she had always been aware they possessed was being able to transform into ferocious, gigantic wereapes whenever a full moon was out. The Saiyajin being able to transform into golden-haired fighters was something new to her.

"I admit that this is the first time I've ever heard of this _interesting_ transformation you Saiyajin possess," Kaosu said. "Then again, that just means it wasn't noteworthy enough of catching my attention in the first place."

The Saiyajin Princess bristled in anger at the scornful words. Before Amara could respond-

KAAABOOOMMMM!

All three of the women's eyes flew wide, as the room and the rest of the palace was rocked violently by an explosion that had seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Wh-what was that?" Amara demanded, swivelling her head this way and that. Beside her, Juuhachi-gou looked equally confused and curious about the whole thing. And standing in front of them both, Kaosu suddenly broke out in a suspiciously elated grin.

"It seems that your comrades have arrived, and Konran and the others are greeting them," Kaosu informed her captives.

"So, the cavalry finally makes their appearance," Juuhachi-gou said.

"Hmm. They actually showed up," Amara said in a tone of one who was mildly surprised about something, though not so mildly surprised at the same time. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, then, in that case, there's no point in us staying in here."

"Right," Juuhachi-gou agreed.

The two rivals traded glances, and they nodded as an understanding passed between them. Juuhachi-gou raised both hands towards the ceiling, and Amara did the same. Kaosu scowled in suspicion, especially when both their hands started flashing with coronas of ki.

"What are you two up to?" Kaosu asked warily.

In their hands, the energy kept expanding and expanding, until...

* * *

Minutes earlier, the scene outside the palace walls was completely riotous. Everywhere you turned, someone was fighting. When they arrived, Kaosu's forces had given the Z-Soldiers had given them the royal treatment, all right: they started attacking as soon as the group stepped outside of their ship. Unsurprisingly, their guests didn't back down. Outnumbering the Senshi, the Chaos General and the Soldiers thought instant victory would be there's if they overwhelmed them by ganging up on them, but that was proving not to be the case as their visitors from Earth were holding their own in spite of the odds.

However, in the midst of all the pandemonium, a tremendous explosion rung through the air, forcing both sides to stop fighting at once and looked around. A thick, mushroom-shaped afterimage of an explosion was issuing from the pile of rubble that had once made up Kaosu's palace.

"Oh, no! Kaosu-sama!" Fuwa gasped, looking appalled.

"Stop that, Fuwa!" Konran admonished. "You know our Goddess can't be done in by something like that. Even in her current state."

"You're right," Fuwa agreed, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry."

"Still, what in the hell happened in there!" Anaki demanded.

Some of the Z-Senshi were wondering the same thing as well.

"Hey, do you think Amara-san and Juuhachi-gou-san were in there?" Kuririn asked concernedly.

"If they were, then they probably got caught in that explosion," Gohan concluded, frowning worriedly at the gradually ebbing smoke.

His eyes focused intently on the smoke, Vegeta said without looking at the others, "If you two would using what passed for a brain in your heads, then you would realized that the Jinzouningen and Amara aren't dead. Just look up there and you'll see."

Vegeta had been referring to the very apex of the smoke cloud, and the other three Senshi immediately gazed that way. Shortly, the three could finally make out two familiar shapes floating high over the afterimage, and one was surrounded in a recognizable glow. Their enemies became aware of this, too. In the next instant, the two figures began to make their descent onto the battlefield, touching down on the terrain almost simultaneously in the center of the battleground. Both Juuhachi-gou and Amara looked identically haughty.

"They're all right!" Gohan exclaimed in relief.

"Where is Lady Kaosu?" Konran demanded.

"She's taking a little nap right now," Juuhachi-gou answered smugly, tucking a strand of golden hair behind a ear.

"But you creepy bastards won't be so fortunate!" Amara declared with cold certainty.

"Just like Zocho, you'll pay for your insolence against our Goddess!" Anaki roared. He and his team were all fixing the two women and the Z-Senshi with identical murderous expressions.

"Resign yourselves!" Fuwa shouted.

"Attack!" Konran commanded his troops.

And then the battle began once again.

Kuririn glided backwards as a bunch of demons advanced on him. "Get bent!" he growled before jumping up into the air and held out his hand. The ki ball that had appeared in his palm expanded and flattened. "KIENZAN!" He began launching multiple energy discs at the demons, mowing down through them row after row.

"Yatta!" he cheered-

Then a demon cut him off with a punch to the face. Another one moved in to slam him hard in the back with its shoulder, and a third one kept the assault going with a forearm to the face. Just as the three Chaos Soldiers moved in on the bald human again, a orange ki bolt came hurtling out of nowhere to crash into them from behind, devouring the trio utterly. The light form the energy was so bright that Kuririn had to shield his eyes with his arm, hearing the sound of the demons' final screams before they faded out of existence. Kuririn looked to see who it was that had saved him, and gawped when he discovered it was Amara.

"A-Amara?" he gasped.

"Fool, be more careful," she said icily. "Next time, I'll just let you die." Following those words, Amara charged back off into the battle.

"That's something I'd expect a sister of Vegeta to say," Kuririn sighed. But he knew she was right, he couldn't let his guard down. And just as he had realized that, Kuririn just narrowedly avoiding getting hit again, as another demon snuck up on him and swung at him with a punch that just came a little close to knocking his head off.

Meanwhile, Gohan suddenly found himself in a center of a dog-pile as many demons jumped on him from all direction, obscuring him from view momentarily.

"HAAAAAAIIIIII!" Gohan screamed defiantly a second later, erupting from underneath the pile of demons that buried him momentarily like a volcano, a white aura raging around him, sending the demons scattering like tenpins.

"CHAOS BOMBER!" Anaki bellowed, his right fist crackling with green-white ki. He plunged it into the ground forcibly, and the area around rattled violently as the beam shot forth, plowing through terrain towards his target-Piccolo. The attack hit successfully, sending rocks and smoke flying everywhere. Anaki chuckled in triumph when he saw the tattered remains of Piccolo's cape and turban fall to the battered earth, yet the Namekseijin was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, that's one vermin down!' he gloated.

Then Piccolo reappeared behind him, smirking devilishly. "Is that so?"

"Huh!" Anaki responded, whirling around with a look of a shock when he saw the green warrior. He quickly leaped back to put some distance between them, still gawping. "B-but that's impossible!"

"I'm not so easy to hit when I'm paying attention, huh?" Piccolo sneered, referring to Anaki blindsiding him with Fuwa, as he was trying to attack Kaosu back at Zocho's cabin. His expression then turned all business. "Allow me to show you the true difference between us!"

Swearing in rage, Anaki sprung forth and swung with a right cross. Piccolo ducked and rammed his elbow hard into his midriff, knocking the air out of the demon. Then Piccolo sent the Chaos General hurtling high into the air with a front kick, and finally topped it all off by exhaling out a ki blast. The beam quickly caught up to the stunned demon, and Anaki faded out of existence with a howl of pain.

The former Demon King smirked dangerously and said, "Now it's one vermin down."

"No, Anaki!" Fuwa screamed after witnessing the death of her comrade. She couldn't believe it, Anaki was dead! How could he lose to a guy like that? Fuwa shook with rage, glowering death down at Piccolo, who was now busy dispatching some of the demon grunts. She would make him pay for this!

"Hey, idiot! You're in the middle of a fight," Juuhachi-gou reminded her. "So keep your eyes forward!"

By the time Fuwa looked around, Juuhachi-gou had already crossed the distance between them and driving her right fist impactfully into the she-demon's face. Juuhachi-gou pursued Fuwa as she flew backwards uncontrollably. But in the next moment, Fuwa regained her bearings and spun around, surprising the cyborged fighter with a heel kick to the face. Juuhachi-gou was the one sent flying back, though she quickly stopped herself. Fuwa grinned arrogantly.

"Who's the idiot now?" she taunted.

Juuhachi-gou only glared coldly at the she-demon.

On the other side of the battlefield, in midair, Vegeta and Konran were trading blows. As much as Vegeta hated to admit it, his opponent's skills weren't bad; not as good as his, he would say, but still impressive. Good! He preferred to fight people who were strong enough to not waste his time.

The two lunged at each other again. At the last second, Konran suddenly dove down in a slide underneath Vegeta in midair, surprising the prince. Turning himself over swiftly, Konran charged up energy for an attack.

"CHAOS CANNON!" the Chaos Demon shouted, firing a huge beam of red ki.

Quickly getting over his surprise, Vegeta avoided the blast with a backflip. Just barely.

But right after Vegeta finished the flip, the Chaos General appeared beneath him again, this time to catch him in his abdomen with a mule kick; Vegeta's eyes flew wide from the shock, his breath escaping his lungs for a moment. Shaking it off, Vegeta tried to move in again, only for Konran to catch him in the chin with a kick as he hit a backflip of his own, then followed up with a kick straight to the Prince's face, sending him crashing into the side of a nearby cliff.

Looking arrogant, Konran drifted down in front of Vegeta, who seemed as if he'd been glued onto the side of the cliff.

"Hmph! I thought you Saiyajin were supposed to be tough, but I guess I heard wrong," he sneered as a pause came in the fight. "You're nothing special at all."

"I'll make you eat those words, soon enough!" Vegeta declared in cold anger. With an abrupt scream, the warrior transformed, the cliff that had held him in place just a second ago crumbling into rocks under his furious power.

"W-what are you!" Konron faltered.

"Why, I'm worst your nightmare," Vegeta said fiercely. The Prince dashed frontward with a speed that Konran couldn't even register and headbutted him in the face. As he went sailing backwards, growling in rage and surprise, Vegeta extended his arm out at him. Gathering power in hand, he fired an intense ki bolt after the flying General. The beam seared through the air as it chased after its target; it quickly caught up to Konran and engulfed him entirely. Vegeta grinned nastily as he heard Konran's final cry of horror before he went packing to the afterlife in a bloom of bright fire and energy.

Well, as annoyed as he was right now, killing the General had slightly improved his mood. Very slightly. No, he wouldn't be abated until he made that demon's Goddess as dead as he was.

Vegeta suddenly heard a voice shouting, "CHAOS TEMPEST!"

He looked down in time to see the one called Fuwa gyrate in place, turning herself into a whirlwind of purple wind and electricity. She then aimed herself right towards Juuhachi-gou.

And she made a direct hit!

The prince stared in surprise, as did Amara, Gohan, and Kuririn who were also watching this. Just as they started to wonder, the whirlwind of electricity had come to an abrupt stop. As the attack dispersed, all those who were watching were surprised again, when they saw a lifeless Fuwa suspended in the air, the only thing keeping her up was Juuhachi-gou's fist, that had been impaled through her abdomen. Juuhachi-gou removed her hand, and the dead she-demon fell to the ground pathetically.

Juuhachi-gou's face scrunched up in distaste as she stared down at her right fist, which was covered in Fuwa's blood.

"Sugoi!" Kuririn said, amazed.

"Hmph," Amara said, unimpressed.

In spite of himself, one corner of Vegeta's mouth quirked into something akin to approval when he stared at the blonde woman. Then as soon as he did, Vegeta snarled in self-annoyance, averting his gaze somewhere else before the Jinzouningen caught him looking at her.

_*Damn, this could become a bother,* _Vegeta thought irritably.

Drawing up beside Gohan, Piccolo said, "I think we've gotten all of them now."

"Yeah, I think so, too," Gohan agreed, looking around at the silent battlefield.

"Phew! Now maybe we can take a breather-"

Kuririn broke off in his words when the ground began to tremble once again. Then, _something _erupted from under the heap of debris that had once been Kaosu's palace, turning a succession of flips in the air before finally alighting in front of the rubble. The look Kaosu fixed the warriors with promised horrible deaths for them all more powerfully than words could right now.

Breaking the silence with a gulp, Kuririn said, "Or maybe not..."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	10. Wrath of the Goddess

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Ten: Wrath of the Goddess**

* * *

"Finally, the heavy of this outfit shows herself," Vegeta said. His tone may have been mocking, but underneath it he was very serious. Anticipation surged through him as his chance to avenge his earlier humiliation at the hands of the Goddess had arrived at last. This time he wouldn't be taken off guard.

Kaosu didn't grace the prince with a response. She continued to glare at her foes each in turn for a long time, her cold stare lingering a bit longer on Juuhachi-gou and Amara. She then surveyed the area in general, taking in the rubble that had made up her once majestic palace, now strewn all over the ground. Also littering the ground were the corpses of her Chaos Soldiers, including one of her Chaos General, Fuwa. The fact that she didn't see Konran and Anaki or sensed them told Kaosu clearly enough that the same fate had befallen them. The deity's visage hardened even more from it all.

"You all have sure made an impressive mess of things, to say the least," Kaosu finally spoke. Her gaze shifted over to the spacecraft that the Warriors had arrived in, remarkably still in good condition in spite of all of the fighting that had just taken place. "Isn't that your ship?"

Proceeding those words, the goddess's eyes flew wide as they flared with energy. Vegeta and the others watched helplessly as the space ship disintegrated in a mighty detonation. Kaosu simpered at the looks of shock and dismay on the faces of her enemies at her actions.

"Dammit!" Piccolo swore angrily, talons knotting into fists.

"Our ship!" Juuhachi-gou exclaimed.

"This is bad!" Kuririn said worriedly. "How are we going to get back home now?"

Kaosu laughed. "Fools! From the very first moment you decided to oppose me, you forfeited your chance of ever returning home." While she spoke, gold electricity started to awash over her in waves. The warriors saw this and quickly got on guard. "As this was my prison for years, it shall now become your grave for all eternity!"

Then Kaosu's eyes flashed a second time and she released her power at them in the form of an enormous ki blast, cradled by the same electricity that had covered her. The sparkling beam pushed forcibly through the air, burning it and creating a wave of intense heat. But by the time it hit, her enemies were already at a safer distance high up in the air. When the smoke dissipated quickly, a gaping crater was left behind.

"_Kono ama_! I'll show you how fearsome the Super Saiyan power really is!" Amara barked wrathfully, already charging at Kaosu.

"Get back, Amara!" Vegeta shouted, lunging at the Chaos God as well. "She's mine!"

He was ignored, of course.

Kaosu grinned at the two Saiyajin before she seemed to vanish into the scenery in every direction at once. Both Vegeta and Amara pulled up short as they reached the space she occupied, surprised.

"Where the hell is she?" Vegeta growled, he and his sister looking this way and that.

"Vegeta-san! Amara-san! Behind you!" Gohan's voice called.

Together, they turned at once. Kaosu was floating higher above them, arms cross as she regarded them arrogantly.

"Dodge this!" Amara snarled, hands cupped in front of her. "GALAXY BUSTER!"

"Hold Amara! She's mine!" Vegeta barked, holding out his right hand. "BIG BANG ATTACK!"

"Child's play!" Kaosu declared, laughing mockingly as she thrust out both her hands, easily negated the two attacks. Vegeta and Amara stared back at her in equal disbelief, and Kaosu returned fired with an invisible blast of dark ki, slamming home and sending them both plummeting towards the earth. Vegeta crashed into a lake, while Amara smashed into a hillside.

Looking down, she saw the blonde woman rocketing towards her, already firing a salvo of pink-white ki blasts. Kaosu grinned maliciously, her eyes aglow. Momently, the volley of energy blasts stopped briefly, becoming surrounded by the same blue light that glowed in the deity's eyes right now. With a wave of her hand, they the beams turned around and started zooming back towards their creator. Seeing this, Juuhachi-gou swore and quickly stopped, erecting a light-blue barrier around herself.

The barrier worked in protecting her from her own attack. However, it wasn't enough to fend off a god, as Kaosu materialized before her in a flicker-flash and shattered the ki shield like glass with a single punch. She then struck out with her other hand, plunging her fist into the side of the blonde woman's face. Juuhachi-gou dropped out of the sky at a insane speed, smashing into the center of a cliff, hard enough for the upper part to crumble into boulders, burying her.

"So weak!" Kaosu sneered.

Below, the three Z-Senshi still standing had watched it all in stunned silence.

"Her strength is amazing, and that was not even her best," Gohan murmured in serious awe. "She took their attacks and knocked them down with ease. Kaosu could be as strong as Cell was."

Piccolo said nothing, but the grimace on his face spoke loud enough.

On the other side of him, Kuririn balked. "Man, if she's as strong as Cell, then we really may have a problem on our hands!"

"Kaosu may be tough, but so are we," Piccolo said, eyes narrowing dangerously. As he removed his weighted clothes, he added, "And don't forget we have Gohan on our side."

"Huh?" Gohan replied, blinking blankly at his mentor.

"Piccolo's right," Kuririn said, looking a lot more enthusiastic than he did a few seconds ago. "If Gohan-san uses the same power he used to beat Cell with, we should still have a chance against Kaosu."

"So that means you can't let your inner inhibitions hold you back!" Piccolo told Gohan sternly.

Gohan nodded in compliance. He then transformed into a Super Saiyajin.

"Let's go!" Piccolo commanded and hurtled skyward, with Gohan right behind him. For a moment, Kuririn hesitated. Then, he bolstered up his courage and followed his friends into battle.

Immediately, Kaosu noticed the three approaching her out of her peripheral vision. She kept her position even as Gohan drew up in front of her, while Piccolo pulled up on her left and Kuririn on her right. She chuckled.

"No matter how many small fries gang up on someone stronger," she taunted, "they're still just small fries!"

Quickly charging ki, she spun in a swift circle, firing a barrage of ki blasts at all three Warriors at the space it took to count to three. The three dodged out of the way, but right after, Kaosu vanished again.

"Where in the hell did she-Kuririn, behind you!" Piccolo was a second too slow in warning Kuririn that the goddess had reappeared behind him. Before Kuririn could even do anything, Kaosu back-fisted him across the back of his head.

"Kuririn!" Piccolo and Gohan shouted together when Kuririn was sent flying. Looking back at Kaosu, both their expressions turned into matching anger. With battle cries, the two lunged in at her. As she blocked and evaded the punches and kicks that came her way, Kaosu found herself privately impressed with how strong the two mortals were; in particular was the boy. He was different from the other Saiyajin, she could just feel it.

Kaosu found herself even more surprised, when Gohan suddenly punch solidly on the side of left side of her jaw. Piccolo followed it up by plunging his knee hard into the Chaos God's abdomen. Backing away, teacher and student rushed back in together to deliver a double-team kick to the goddess's face, sending Kaosu buffeting backwards.

Not going to let them get away with that, Kaosu stopped herself and charged them again, with the half-Saiyajin and Namekseijin meeting her halfway. A little more serious now, the deity looked for immediate openings as she dodged and blocked the flurry of punches and kicks coming in at her again. Ducking a roundhouse kick from Gohan, she speedily spun around and leapt up to pay him back with the punch from earlier, then caught a charging Piccolo in the stomach with a side kick. Grabbing Gohan by his leg, Kaosu aggressively threw him into Piccolo, sending them both earthbound.

Kaosu gave the fallen Piccolo a speculative look. "I see, he was once a God of this Lower Realm."

Instantaneously afterwards, a ki disk came spinning towards her out of nowhere, and hit her on target...and shattered into nothingness as soon as it made contact with her body.

"Huh? What was that?" she wondered, blinking her eyes blankly.

Hearing a dismaying gasp, Kaosu looked down to see Kuririn on the ground staring up at her in consternation. She simpered congenially at him. Descending, she alighted a short distance away from him. In response, a fearful Kuririn backpedaled a few steps back.

"Hey, you with the shiny, bald head," she said. "Would you like to fight me next?"

"WHAT? Me?" Kuririn exclaimed, panicking. "Oh, no! You don't want to face me! I wouldn't even be half-challenging to someone has powerful as you!"

Kaosu blinked at Kuririn for a moment, then burst in laughter as if the human warrior had just told some hilarious joke.

As he was finally pulling himself out of the lake, Vegeta had overheard the exchange between Kaosu and Kuririn just then, and the human a look of cold disgust.

"Fool, you might as well dig your own grave and put yourself in it before she does!" he snarled scathingly, standing back up to his feet. "I knew bringing you along for this battle was pointless!"

Kuririn looked affronted, but couldn't say anything in response.

"Yeah, well, I don't see you doing any better, Vegeta," Piccolo took up for the short warrior, as he and Gohan were getting back up as well. Up on the cliff, Juuhachi-gou had sharply rose from underneath the debris she'd been buried under.

"What did you say to me?" Vegeta bellowed, rounding on the Namekseijin furiously.

"You heard me," Piccolo said without any intimidation or hesitation in voice. "In case you've forgotten, she knocked you down as much ease as she did with Amara."

Vegeta growled at Piccolo. "Namek, I'll remember your words once I finished off that accursed whore!"

Piccolo grinned crookedly back at him. "I'll be waiting."

"Vegeta! Kaosu is mine!" shouted a familiar voice.

Everyone looked back over at the crater where Kaosu had smashed Amara into the earth to see the Saiyajin Princess exploding out of the ground.

Gohan's expression suddenly lit up with a realization, as something occurred to him.

"Kuririn-san!" he called urgently, turning toward his dead father's friend. "The Dragon Sphere! You still have it, don't you?"

"That Dragon Sphere? That's right!" Kuririn remembered. "I almost forgot I had put in my pocket before we came!"

"Nani!" Kaosu replied, looking both surprised and disturbed at the mere mention of that accursed orb.

"Don't just stand there," Amara said urgently. "Use it on her!"

Not needing to be told twice, Kuririn reached inside his gi shirt pocket where he'd deposited the Dragon Sphere earlier. However, when he pulled his hand back out, it was empty; he frowned. He then started searching into the pockets of his pants each, and each time he pulled his hands out they were empty. Kuririn suddenly looked very sickened.

Kaosu's body tensed and she snarled. No, she will not lose on account of the Dragon Sphere this time. But just as she started to gather power...

"Kuririn, what are you waiting for, an open invitation?" Piccolo demanded, irritated at Kuririn not moving fast enough. "Take out the Dragon Sphere!"

"I know you, I know!" Kuririn replied. "But...I think we have a problem on our hands."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Piccolo demanded, trying to ignore the sinking suspicion of what the bald warrior was trying to tell them.

Bracing himself for the angry verbal (and quite possibly physical) response he was about to receive, Kuririn turned to the others. "I...lost it."

"What?" The other Warriors exclaimed, aghast.

"You idiot!" Vegeta hissed.

"How could you lose that!" Juuhachi-gou demanded.

Before anyone else could berate him, Kaosu cut them off as she burst into wicked laughter. Everyone immediately looked her way again.

"Stupid...you entities of the Lower Realm truly are stupid!" she scorned, crossing her arms. "You had my one greatest weakness in the palm of your hands, and you lose it?" She laughed again. "What a group of useless idiots you all are!"

"What was that?" Vegeta growled in fury.

Kaosu sighed and shook her head at them in complete condescension.

"You lower life-forms are obviously too stupid to be left on your own. That was yet another mistake _they _made. You all are like little infants who need to be watched over day after day." Turning to Piccolo she added, "Even your so-called Gods here are worthless. I think I was right in choosing to make this realm my new home. After all, the insects of this domain obviously need my rulership." She grinned evilly. "But don't worry. Where you six are going, you won't have to worry about serving under me!"

"Damn it!" Amara hissed, fists shaking. She then glared resentfully out the corner of her eye at Kuririn for losing the Dragon Sphere. Kuririn caught the expression and looked appropriately guilty.

"Forget it!" Gohan said defiantly.

"What was that?" Kaosu replied, lowering her arms. Her brows lowered in a frown.

"It's true that we humans can be foolish some times," Gohan admitted, "but we don't need anyone watching over us! We can walk on our two feet!"

Kaosu snarled.

"That's telling her, buddy!" Kuririn cheered.

Not faraway, Piccolo gave the half-Saiyajin a look of approval. He then turned to Kaosu and smirked.

"It's true what the kid says," he said. "Back when I was the Kami of Earth, I felt the same way about the Earthlings. However, over the years, I learned that underestimating them is a costly mistake. Especially anyone with Saiyajin blood in them." Piccolo pointed at Gohan. "Take this kid for example. He may have been born just a human, but he has a power that would possibly make a God like you quiver."

"Is that so?" Kaosu asked. "How interesting."

"What are you talking about?" Amara asked. "The boy is strong, I'll give him that, but not even a Super Saiyajin seems to be enough to take this witch down!"

Piccolo smirked. "Maybe not a regular Super Saiyajin, but a Beyond Super Saiyajin might be enough."

"A Beyond Super Saiyajin?" Amara repeated, looking bemused.

"That's a Super Saiyajin beyond a regular Super Saiyajin," Kuririn explained. "Or I guess you could call it Super Saiyajin Two. Gohan-san can do it."

Kuririn never noticed the venomous look Vegeta shot him.

"S-S-Super Saiyajin Two!" Amara gawped at the Namekseijin, then at Gohan, and back at Piccolo again.

"Him! You're joking, right?" she exclaimed in disbelief

"No. He's speaking the truth," Juuhachi-gou spoke up, quickly drawing the princess's gaze on her. "Gohan did something that Vegeta couldn't do and that was defeat Cell, a android more powerful than both me and my brother combined."

The Princess of the Saiyajin boggled over what she had just been told. Gohan, that half-breed, is stronger than Vegeta? And what was this Super Saiyajin Two thing? From the sound of things the power her brother possessed was nothing compared to that of a Super Saiyajin Two. This boy actually wields that power? Could she? Could she even become a Beyond Super Saiyajin herself someday?

Hearing them talking about him, a different kind of fury rose up within Vegeta.

Kaosu fixed the group with a sharp, knifelike look. "Cocky little bastard! You actually think you're my superior! Even at your full strength a brat like you could never hope to beat me!"

"Only one way to find out." Right behind those words, Gohan drew back in a stance as he prepared to power-up. However, as soon as he did, a odd smile of triumph imperceptibly curled Kaosu's lips.

"I have you!" Twin streams of dark-green light shot of the goddess's outstretched hands. Gohan only had the time to look up in confusion before they struck. Instead of exploding against him like an energy blast would, they simply filled his form with their light and lifted him scant inches off the ground. The lights warped around him until they solidified around his arms and legs in the form of snake figurines.

"Gohan!" came several exclamations.

Kaosu cackled manically, drawing up in front of the ensnared Gohan. Noticing her, Gohan glared at the goddess.

"What is this!" he demanded, outraged. "I thought you were going to fight me one on one?"

That made Kaosu laugh even louder.

"But I never told you that, did I?" she scoffed. She chuckled at Gohan's attempt to break out free, only to find it unwaveringly solid. Even for Super Saiyajin strength. "You may as well save your energy, brat. That magic spell I placed on you is very potent and also very special, as it was created from my own ki. Basically it means that as long as I am alive, you will never be able to break free from those bonds. You can't even summon up enough energy to try. As much as I hate to admit it, you are certainly a serious threat to me, I had first sensed that even before we first met. So little boy, I've decided to move you out of the way first and take care of your pals before I deal with you. After all, there is no one else here as strong as you."

"Surely those two told you all what happened four years ago. Haven't any of you all wondered why I ordered those Chaos Soldiers I sent to Earth to attack you as well?" Kaosu's expression turned grave. "I felt your strong kis on that rural little planet- particularly you brat. As well as Vegeta and the Namekseijin over there. While you may not be responsible for me being sealed up, I won't allow anyone like you group to exist!" That sinister grin returned to her face.

"Don't you dare hurt them!" Gohan warned her, struggling harder than ever to get free. It still didn't budge. Kaosu laughed again.

"And who's going to stop me?" she taunted.

"What are we going to do you guys?" Kuririn asked. "Gohan was our trump card!"

"We also don't have the Dragon Sphere to use any more," Piccolo added.

"Sorry about that, you guys," Kuririn apologized.

Incidentally, Juuhachi-gou was the first one who heard a low growl come from Vegeta's direction. Looking around, her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the prince's whole body tensed up, fists clenched, teeth gritted, and face contorted in rage. The others soon noticed this well, mainly because Vegeta's ki was starting to rise.

"Vegeta...?" Amara said, eyes widening.

Also noticing this, Kaosu looked on in interest.

"Stop...looking..." Vegeta grounded out, "...down...ON ME!" Howling furiously, his Super Saiyajin aura responding in kind by exploding from his body, leaving everyone except for Kaosu momentarily blinded. After it was safe to see again, everyone looked to where they had last seen the Saiyajin no Ouji, and some slipped into states of amazement. One of them looking at him that way was the Chaos Goddess. In front of her, gone was the battered Vegeta she had been fighting for most of the night, but a revitalized warrior bulkened with muscles and radiating sheer power.

"I-Incredible!" Amara gasped, awed.

"V-Vegeta!" Kaosu stammered, staring at the Saiyajin before her in disbelief.

Faster than even the Goddess could follow, Vegeta rushed in and punched her with the strength of an Ascended Super Saiyajin, following up with a sharp kick that sent her high up into the air. Quickly, he pursued her, catching up with a brutal kick to the midsection, then sends her plummeting earthward where she hits the terrain a rapid burst of speed, digging another crater into the planet. Gathering power in both hands, Vegeta pummels the crater with a multitude of ki spheres, and terminates his assault with a tremendous ki bolt, creating a violent backdraft that swirled around the other warriors. Somehow or another, Gohan managed to not be blown away in spite of his vulnerable state.

When it ended, everyone looked up at Vegeta in equal amazement.

"Vegeta..." Kuririn said.

Amara was still gaping at her brother in openmouthed shock, dignity completely tossed out the window at the moment.

The gold light then hurtled up at Vegeta, catching him in the side. He screamed, and immediately tried to right himself, but in the end all he could really do was slam into the ground.

"Vegeta!" Piccolo exclaimed.

He and the others then looked to see Kaosu leaping out of the crater, touching down in front of the fallen Vegeta. The Goddess did not look as good as she did a short time ago. While Vegeta may have failed to deliver the killing blow, he had succeeded in damaging her at least. She was bleeding from both corners of her mouth, her right shoulder that she was cradling, and as well from the rips and tears in her outfit. Still holding her right shoulder, Kaosu glared down at Vegeta in an expression as furious as the one the Saiyajin Prince wore before he launched his attack.

"That was an impressive display of power, to be sure, Vegeta-san," Kaosu said, her eyes smouldering with rage that a human could hurt her so much. She raised her hand. "Now then, let me commend you by ending your life!"

Just then, Juuhachi-gou appeared behind the goddess. Kaosu noticed the movement, however. Slowed down by Vegeta's assault moments ago, her reaction time wasn't quick enough, and before she knew it Juuhachi-gou had trapped her in a tight full nelson.

Slowly raising his head, Vegeta stared up at Juuhachi-gou in surprise.

"What is that android think she's doing?" Amara wondered, bewildered.

_*She's not about to try and do what I think she is?* _Piccolo mused, not knowing that the other Z-Warriors were thinking the same thing.

Unlike Amara, they knew what Juuhachi-gou's intentions were. They had seen Juuroku-gou try the same against Cell, only to be met by fatal consequences.

"Vermin! Whatever you think you're planning...it won't work!" Kaosu spat. She tried to shake Juuhachi-gou off, however, her opponent was persistent, hanging on to her with desperate strength.

"I'm about to activate my self-destruct bomb," Juuhachi-gou acknowledged with a wicked grin. "See, if I'm going to go to Hell today, then I'm taking you with me! But even if it fails to, it's still strong enough leave you even more vulnerable than you already. It should be enough for one of the others to finish you off!"

There was a look of fleeting panic in the Goddess's eyes at her statement.

"Juuhachi-gou! Get out of there now!" Piccolo shouted. "It won't work!"

"You can't use your self-destruct bomb, Juuhachi-gou!" Kuririn added.

"I have to try!"

Kuririn shook his head. "No, that's not what they meant. You can't use your self-destruct bomb, because..." Kuririn paused, not knowing how to tell Juuhachi-gou about that wish he'd made for her. But he had no choice. "You can't use it, because...I wished the bomb to be taken out of you."

Juuhachi-gou stared back at him in shock.

"What did you-"

"Too bad for you!" Kaosu sneered, delighting in the look she saw on the younger woman's face; it was the look of one who knew they were in an extremely dangerous situation. Raising her ki, Kaosu easily broke free from the Jinzouningen's grip, swivelled and then fired a ki blast at her. Reflexively, Juuhachi-gou brought up an energy shield around herself, although it would no good as the beam still sent her rocketing clear from the battlefield and into a range of cliffs hundreds of yards away. Moments later, they all heard a thunderclap, accompanied by the shockwave that made the earth tremble beneath their feet.

All the Warriors stared in varying levels of appalled shock.

"Juuhachi-gou!" Kuririn shouted, taking off after her in a flare of energy, the ground splintering under his feet from his departure.

"Kuririn-san!" Gohan called involuntarily.

Kaosu smiled maliciously as she watched the human. _*Isn't that cute? But the only thing he'll fine when he gets there is bloody scrap metal.* _

After what had happened fully settled into her head, Amara's expression twisted in pure rage. How dare she! The Jinzouningen was hers to kill!

"DAMN YOU!" she shrieked, her ki blazing around her as she launched a Renzoku Energy Dan.

The goddess turned in Amara's direction, watching the barrage of energy bolts rush towards her. She didn't bother to move once, grinning instead, even as the light of the oncoming attack filled her vision.

* * *

Kuririn hurriedly sped toward the spot where he had seen Juuhachi-gou crash at, praying to Kami-sama that she was still alive. He still felt guilty about what had happened to Juuroku-gou, but if the same fate were to have befallen Juuhachi-gou too, he didn't know what he would do. Suddenly, to his utter relief, he saw the cyborged woman pulling herself out of the earth from where she impacted.

As Juuhachi-gou brushed the dirt off her clothes, she felt forced to thank God for the first time since she came into existence as a Jinzouningen. It was because of that very thing she normally thought so little of higher beings, believing that if they were so great they wouldn't have allowed Gero to have done what he did. Plus, she had always been arrogant in her belief that there was no one strong enough to even put her or her brother predicament she had just been in. Nonetheless, surviving Kaosu's attack just then was nothing short of a miracle. No, Kaosu had thought so little of her that she thought a normal blast would do her in; the goddesss didn't expect her barrier and her tough cyborg body to survive.

Then again, for a brief moment, Juuhachi-gou didn't think so either. Juuhachi-gou around when she heard someone land beside her, and saw it was Kuririn.

"Um, Juuhachi-gou, are you all right?" he asked worriedly. Then Kuririn cringed, as Juuhachi-gou's icy eyes narrowed on him.

"Yeah, but no thanks to you!" she spat venomously. "What in the hell were you thinking removing my bomb, and without my permission? I never asked for your damn help!"

"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean you any harm," Kuririn apologized, looking shamefaced. "It's just that...well, I had felt so bad for you that Dr. Gero had stolen you and your brother's humanity away that I asked Shenron the Eternal Dragon to turn you two back into humans. But he wasn't powerful enough to do that, so instead I asked him to remove the bomb from inside you, and also your brother as well."

Upon hearing his confession, the furious expression vanished from Juuhachi-gou's face, as if it had never been there, as she stared briefly at Kuririn with wide-eyes. Then her eyes slimmed again, when the exasperated look returned to her features.

"We don't have time for this," Juuhachi-gou said coldly. "We have to go help the others."

On that note, she started to walk off, brushing past Kuririn as she did so. However, she only walked a few steps away when she suddenly stopped and looked back at the monk over her shoulder. The coldly angry scowl that had just been on her face was completely gone again.

"But thanks, anyway," she said, her voice much softer, "for thinking of me and my brother."

Kuririn stared back at the beautiful woman in surprise; after her angry outburst at what he had done, he definitely had not been expecting her to say that.

"You mean, you're not mad me at me?" he asked.

"No, not really." Juuhachi-gou looked serious again. "Now come on and let's head back."

Juuhachi-gou was obviously done talking, as she turned around, ran a quick few steps, and rocketed back to the battlefield in a incredible burst of speed. For a moment, Kuririn remained where he was, staring at her retreating form.

Slowly, a huge smile spread across his face. He then finally leapt into the air and flew after the blonde woman, and as he did so he thought: _*You may just have a chance with her after all, Kuririn old boy.*_

* * *

Back on the battlefield, there was another explosion of light, and afterwards, Kaosu was seen fielding strikes from Piccolo and then Amara, as the two flew in and out, striking without pattern and only doing when the perfect opening presented itself. As much as the Goddess hated to admit, she was slowly starting to get hemmed in. Vegeta's attack on her earlier had taken a lot more out of her than she cared to admit, causing her to move more sluggishly than before. The effortlessness she had displayed in countering and deflecting them earlier was nearly all but gone.

Down below, Vegeta was back up on his feet, leaning against the wall, taking the moment to rest before he rejoined the fight. Abruptly, he saw movement up in the air and looked to see Kuririn and Juuhachi-gou flying back onto the scene toward Kaosu. He frowned.

A short distance away, Gohan was still struggling to get free from his imprisonment, though to no prevail.

"You're both more annoying than gnats!" Kaosu hissed before assaulting Amara and Piccolo with a double clothesline. But right after that, a large pink-white ki sphere slammed into her back. While the move didn't really hurt, it did rock her ever-so-slightly. Turning around, Kaosu couldn't help but to be surprised when she saw that it was Juuhachi-gou. "Oh, you're still alive? You're tougher than I thought, but in the end you're still just another irritating small fry. Both of you!"

"I'll show you a small fry!" Juuhachi-gou hissed, raising her hands in front of her again as she gathered energy, firing off numerous ki charges. Beside her, Kuririn joined in with ki blasts of his own.

Crossing her arms in a block, Kaosu withstood the attack. Recovering, Piccolo and Amara returned on the other side of Kaosu, and fired beams of their own, catching Kaosu in a crossfire. Kaosu was devoured in a midair explosion, the shockwaves pushing the four back some.

Below, Gohan and Vegeta continued to watch, wondering if the four had got her that time. But when the smoke had cleared, no one was really shocked when Kaosu reappeared, looking more furious than ever.

"No more!" she snapped, her power lashing out at all four, sending them plummeting into the ground. She watched coldly as they slowly pulled themselves back up. "I will tolerate your opposition no more! It's time I obliterated you all for good!"

Following her declaration, Kaosu raised a hand towards the sky, and several bolts of black lightning descended down to strike her hand at once. The bolts washed over the goddess, wrapping around her in a cocoon too dark to see through. Her foes looked disturbed by this.

"What is she doing?" Amara asked, wide-eyed.

"She really is done playing with us," Piccolo concluded bleakly. "Can't you all feel it? She's transforming!"

There were several gasps of shock.

"You two never said she could transform!" Vegeta accused, glaring at his sister and Juuhachi-gou.

"We didn't know she could!" Juuhachi-gou retorted. "She didn't transform last time!"

_*No...she just can't get any stronger than this...* _Amara thought in denial, even as she felt her ki rising like the others could. _*She just can't!*_

Even as she was thinking that, the silhouette within the dark light began to change right in front of them. The form grew in height and size until it towered even over Piccolo. In the next moment, the light vanished from around Kaosu in a soft splash, revealing her new form for the others to see.

Her orange hair had been bleaked into white, spiked out in an unruly mane. The orange and white of her eyes were replaced by a pupiless deep crimson, her smooth, pale skin hardened into rough, blue scales, spikes burst through both her shoulder blades, her fingernails and toenails morphed into talons, and the outline of her body widened and elongated, making her stand nine feet over everybody else.

Kaosu grinned down horrendously at all her enemies, displaying a mouth full of wickedly sharp looking teeth. She then barked out in baleful laughter- it was a very brusque sound that rumbled like thunder over the battleground. She felt great! Whatever injuries that had been affecting her in her previous state were completely healed now.

As far as she was concerned, there was nothing left to be said. All she wanted was the absolute destruction of her enemies. Raising her claws hands to the sky, she cupped them together. In her palm, a sphere of ki flash, then expanded and elongated outward until it was half the size of the sun itself, silhouetted by black lightning. The Warriors gawped up at Kaosu in matching dismay, knowing the transformed Chaos Goddess was truly serious about her threat this time.

"Oh, no!" Gohan gasped. He then struggled even harder, crying in impotent rage as he still couldn't budge.

"Game over!" Kuririn said in dismay. "We're finished!"

Hearing him, Kaosu grinned. "Yes, everything was futile, wasn't it?" she asked. "CHAOS DENKOU DAMA!"

Kaosu then flung the giant ki ball at her foes, laughing in sadistic triumph as she imagined her attack hitting home and wiping out all her foes for good. This would serve as a warning to everyone else who tried to go up against her. However, her glorious vision was disrupted when a huge purple-white ki blast raced across the sky from out of nowhere to ram into her attack just as it got halfway, arcing upwards to carry it out into outer space.

Everyone stared in bafflement.

"N-Nani?" Kaosu spluttered. She glared accusingly down at her enemies. "Who did that? Which one of you did that?"

"I did!"

Everyone whirled at once in the direction they heard the voice. Standing atop of a cliff was a armored woman holding a glaive, glaring up at Kaosu in cold anger. Kaosu stared back at the woman in amazement.

"Y-You!" she gasped. "It's impossible!"

In response, the woman twirled her glaive around with deadly precision, bringing it to a halt with the sharp end aimed straight at the Goddess. She then said, "It's over, Kaosu!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	11. Kuririn's Counterattack

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Author's Note: Lucia's new name Kosumo is the Japanese word for Cosmos, just like Larentia's new name Kaosu is the Japanese word for Chaos. Since I changed this from a sibling rivalry, I turned it into a Cosmos vs. Chaos thing, hence the reason behind their name changes. Konran's, Anaki's and Fuwa's names are puns off the synonyms for the word 'chaos' ****(Turmoil, Anarchy, and Discord). For those wondering, Kaosu's attack in the last chapter basically translates into "Chaos Lightning Sphere". And for those who catch on, yes I did get the idea of Kosumo's Cosmic Glaive from Sailor Saturn's Silence Glaive off Sailor Moon. **

**Chapter Eleven: Kuririn's Counterattack**

* * *

Another hush fell over the battlefield at the arrival of the stranger. Vegeta and company stared at the woman in identical amazement, mainly because she looked exactly like Kaosu in her humanoid form, but with some obvious differences. Where Kaosu's hair and eyes had been dark ruby in color, this woman's hair and eyes were both orange. The newcomer was even dressed in the same type of armored attire, only her outfit was gold all over, nor did she proudly wear the symbol of Chaos on her. In her left hand, she held a wickedly carved glaive. Yet another difference between the woman and Kaosu was that she didn't radiate pure evil like the Chaos Goddess did.

Whoever she was, from the expression of disbelief and fury on Kaosu's face, everyone could tell this woman was definitely no stranger to her.

"Who is that?" Gohan wondered, breaking the silence.

"Eh! S-She looks just like Kaosu!" Kuririn exclaimed, surprised. "What the hell's going on here?"

The others watched the woman without remark, but they were quite clearly wondering the same thing.

Slowly, Kaosu descended back down to earth, never taking her eyes off the newcomer. Lightning flashed and crackled in the background behind her, like angry, black slashes ripping across the lavender sky. Kaosu settled in front of the woman, not too close but not too far away at the same time. Their stare-down continued a moment longer before Kaosu ended it.

"So, the Guardian of Cosmos lives another day," she sneered "You always were an annoying pest that wouldn't go away, Kosumo!"

The woman, Kosumo, grimaced. "You of all people should know it'll take a lot more than attacking me while my guard is dropped to finish me, Kaosu!"

While most of the bystanders had no idea what they were talking about, unnoticed, Piccolo was staring at Kosumo in wonder. _*The G-Guardian of Cosmos...Could she really be that person?* _

Suddenly, Kosumo swayed on her feet, as if becoming light-headed. Then she shook her head and quickly steadied herself, tightening her grip on her glaive. Noticing this, the monstrous Kaosu grinned fiendishly.

"It would seem that you haven't recovered completely after all!" Kaosu laughed. "On second thought, I'm glad you did interrupt me just a few moments ago, because now I get the chance of killing you and those verminous scum all at the same time. And let me warn you, I'm twice as powerful as I was the last time we faced off. And no one will be able to seal me up this time!" The transformed goddess's face turned even more malicious as she deliberately added, "Especially since I sent your little aide on a one-way trip to the afterlife!"

Kosumo gasped in horror as discovering her long-time friend was dead. Then her expression quickly turned into anger. Delighted of the look on her countenance, Kaosu broke out in malicious cackles.

_*She's completely distracted,* _Amara conceived. Knowing that she probably would never get another chance like this, the Oujo formed a ki saber around her right arm and charged.

"No, don't!" Vegeta shouted involuntarily.

Kaosu stopped abruptly, when she heard a very familiar battle cry behind her. Pivoting, she had turned just in time to see Amara coming down towards her in a arc, her Energy Sword prepared to cut her right down the middle. However, that never came as Kaosu effortlessly reached out to catch the Saiyajin Princess whe she came down by the tip of her sword; Amara jerked forward a bit, as her flight came down to a complete halt.

"It's not nice to interrupt people when they're talking!" Kaosu hissed. Lifting even higher in the air as if she weighed nothing, Kaosu hurtled the princess across the battlefield. To avoid hitting the ground, Amara turned on her side to slow herself down and drove her Energy Sword into the ground, tearing a half-mile long slash through the ground before finally flipping over onto her feet.

No sooner had Kaosu turned her back, Kosumo went on the attack, slashing her across the back with her Cosmic Glaive. Kaosu let out a scream of pain, true genuine _pain. _While the Cosmic Glaive was nowhere near as dangerous as the Dragon Sphere, it was still potent enough to affect Kaosu, even in her altered state. Kaosu whirled on Kosumo in fury, who was smirking at her.

"You bitch!" the Chaos Goddess snarled.

"There's more where that came from!" Kosumo vowed.

Spheres of black energy already gathered in her hands, Kaosu advanced on the Guardian of Cosmos, but before she could reach her...She was suddenly struck from behind by a ki blast square in her back that extracted a wail of real pain from the demonic deity, as the blast had stung her already sore body. Even transforming didn't help dull the pain her rival had caused her. As soon as she recovered, Kaosu immediately spun around, her red eyes glowing brightly with fury when she noticed Vegeta's hand stretched out and smoking.

Vegeta sneered at her. "You didn't forget about me, did you?" he asked. His face then contorted into a savage snarl and powered-up, pushing his battered body beyond its limit.

On either side of him, Amara, and Piccolo flared up their own auras around them, standing in golden and white nimbuses. Juuhachi-gou just quietly raised her fists in her wonted fighting stance.

"DAMN YOU INSECTS!" Kaosu roared, fed up. Still holding onto the ki blasts, she hurled one in the direction of the warriors and the other in the direction of Kosumo. All her foes avoided them. Not finished, Kaosu took to the air, arms crossed. When she thought she was high enough, she snapped them forward, unleashing numerous ki blasts indiscriminately.

Everyone dodged as best as they could, however, one who didn't have such luxury was Son Gohan. Piccolo noticed this, when he saw a few ki blasts moving towards Gohan's direction, who could only stare up at them.

"Gohan!" Acting fast, Piccolo zoomed towards his young friend in a burst of energy, and shoved him out of the way in time. The ki blasts pounded the space they had both occupied just seconds ago, exploding afterwards.

"Thanks, Piccolo-san," Gohan said gratefully. Then he looked guiltily. "Sorry.

"Baka, what are you apologizing for?" Piccolo asked. "You're not acting useless on purpose, Kaosu's spell is making you act that way." The Namekseijin turned back to the battle. He grimaced. "Dammit! How ironic that the only thing that can you free you is the one thing we can't seem to do!"

"If Father was here, he wouldn't have let himself get trapped like this," Gohan said dejectedly.

"Still, maybe we could manage something if the Dragon Sphere hadn't been lost."

Overhearing the two, Kuririn made some quick calculations and made a decision. He didn't notice Kosumo glance his way. Without so much as a word, Kuririn kicked himself and hurtled away in a flare of energy.

Everyone saw this.

"Kuririn-san..." Gohan said.

"Where the hell is he off to?" Piccolo wondered.

"Feh! That coward's running way, that's what he's doing!" Vegeta snarled in cold disgust. He knew Kuririn wouldn't be reliable.

"He's deserting us?" Amara asked angrily.

Kaosu chortled. "At least one of you seems to have a brain!"

"That's not true," Kosumo interjected. Everyone looked her way. "I'm sure he will be back, just give him time. Until then, we must hold off Kaosu."

"Who the hell do you think you're telling what to do!" Vegeta demanded.

"Who are you?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

A mysterious smile slid across the face of the just as mysterious woman. "An ally."

"I've had enough of this!" Kaosu growled. "All of you will die now!"

With a ferocious battle cry, Kaosu rocketed full speed toward her adversaries like a raging bull.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kuririn wasted no time as he searched high and low for the Dragon Sphere, moving at the speed of someone who had the very hounds of Hell on their heels. He really wanted to smack himself for losing one of their biggest weapons against Kaosu. If it wasn't for him, they might have been able to beat Kaosu by now. He knew that time was of the essence, and that the longer it took for him to search for the Dragon Sphere...the more chances it gave Kaosu to kill off his comrades and even Vegeta.

The former monk instantly shook that direful thought away. No one was going to die! Everyone was going to make it off this planet alive, and he was going to make sure of it...as soon as he found that Dragon Sphere. When he began the search, he'd been thinking that finding the sphere would be easy enough. After all, how hard would be to find a circular gold and shiny ball with a dragon running across it?

Many minutes later into the hunt, Kuririn was beginning to find that searching for the Dragon Sphere was actually very hard. He'd been having little to no success so far. His search had led him to a ravine where he had peered in every nook and cranny of the ravine. Nothing. He'd even look in those places where one would never think to look. But nothing. When nearly half an hour had passed, the frustration that had bubbling inside Kuririn over the irritatingly elusive Dragon Sphere, coupled together with the sound of battle he could hear in the distant, boiled over and the bald warrior let out a swearword.

"Where in the hell did that damn thing go?" he groused. "Man, I'm such a idiot!"

Kuririn paused and took a deep breath to calm himself. Working himself up into a fit of pique and berate himself wouldn't help him find the Dragon Sphere. "I've got to keep calm," he told himself over and over again a few times. He then took another calming breath.

"If Goku had been in my shoes, he would've found the Dragon Sphere easier enough," he griped.

Kuririn sometimes envied the good luck his best friend seemed to have. Goku had been the one who grew the tallest out of the two of them. Goku had been the gone who'd become the strongest out of the two of them. And Goku had been the first one out of them to marry a cute girl and settle down to have a family. Meanwhile, he had the height of a nearly half-grown child. He was weakest one amongst his friends that had come along on this trip. And he was also still pathetically single. Also, he was head-over-heels for a woman who belonged to another man- a man he greatly dislikes. He was starting to get a suspicious feeling that some higher being out there was laughing up a storm at him.

Before he could fall deeper into his self-pity, something caught his eye below. He saw it amidst a upland of longhead grass near the base of the ravine by a river, glittering in lavender night sky of Omegasei. A slow, victorious grin split Kuririn's face as he started to get a concrete notion as to what the shiny whatever-it-is down there was. Without another moment's waste, Kuririn shot earthward. As he advanced a lot closer toward his target, he saw that it was in fact the Dragon Sphere- though it seemed to be sitting atop a large, black rock. However, it was right when he had alighted directly beside the Dragon Sphere, and a long, black serpentine head craned its neck to glare at the trespasser with golden slit eyes, that Kuririn discovered that the rock the Dragon Sphere had been sitting on was in fact not a rock but an enormous anaconda.

Kuririn groaned, as the gigantic snake rose to its full height, completely dwarfing him. "Ah, man! Why do these things always have to happen to me?"

Then the anaconda struck.

* * *

Kaosu was beginning to find out just how persistent the enemies she had acquired in the Lower Realm really were; especially with Kosumo joining them. Of course, that was no surprise. After fighting Kosumo for countless centuries, she knew just exactly how determined her longtime enemy could get. Still, she didn't expect such a fight from these Lower Realm Warriors now that she was transformed. But she wasn't worried, because while they managed to stay alive this long, their luck wouldn't hold out forever. And thanks to devouring Zocho's life-force, she was much stronger than Kosumo now. They would eventually slip up, and when they did...

Helplessly bound up, Gohan watched the other Warriors fight Kaosu almost enviously. It was a relief to them that they all seemed to be holding out okay, but he could sense that they were far from defeating Kaosu. His Saiyajin blood boiled as he really wanted to be involved in the fight, but all he could was just observe and hope everything worked out all right. And what ever happened to Kuririn? What did that Kosumo woman mean by he was coming right back?

With a roar, Kaosu's jaw dropped and she spat streams of incinerating flames at her foes. The warriors and the Guardian of Cosmos evaded her, and in the nick of time as the flames instantly melted the earth and ground wherever it touched.

"How long do you gnats think you can keep dodging me before I squash you?" Kaosu chided.

"Long enough for this!" Looking up, Kaosu was caught in the face with a fierce dropkick from Vegeta. The force of the blow pushed the goddess backwards twenty meters, her feet digging trenches into the pummelled terrain before she stopped, though she did not fall over.

"Is that the best you can do, prince-" Kaosu was cut off in her taunt when an invisible force abruptly slammed into her hard. The Chaos Goddess's eyes widened, as she found herself unable to move her body. Still, she knew exactly who was doing this, as this power has immobilized her several times in the past. Glancing out the corner of her eye, she found Kosumo standing a short distance away, left hand outstretched and silhouetted by the same blue light that glowed in her eyes as she held her in place with her telekinesis.

"Now is your chance!" Kosumo told the Warriors.

Realizing she was right, Piccolo cupped his hands together, a white flames blazing to life around him and he gathered ki in his hands. "GEKIRETSU KODAN!"

"COSMIC INFLATION ATTACK!" Amara shouted.

"ENERGY WAVE!" Juuhachi-gou screamed.

"GYARIKKU-HO!" Vegeta bellowed.

The four attacks hit Kaosu simultaneously, and struck thunderously and explosively, sending tremors through the planet. Gohan got caught up in a shockwave, pushed to and fro for a long moment, dizzy by the time it was over with.

Kosumo lowered her hand, staring into the gradually ebbing smoke where her rival had last been seen. Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, Piccolo, and Amara were watching it as well. The two Saiyajin and the Namekseijin were breathing noticeably hard, as the three had put everything they had into that last attack. Being a artificial human, Juuhachi-gou was okay.

"Did we...get her?" Amara wondered.

Nobody answered her.

In the next moment, everyone tensed when they heard familiar laughing from within cloud. Soon, the smoke and dust vanished completely, revealing an unscathed Kaosu.

"Shit!" Piccolo swore.

"That was everything I had!" Vegeta admitted, dismayed.

"Nice try, but now it's time turn again!" With a cry, Kaosu released her power from within her body in a vicious energy wave. It rolled viciously over her and the others, and then tossed them backwards on the ground a few feet away. Kosumo's Cosmic Glaive was broken in the process.

Kaosu barked with sinister laughter. "It's all over!" she declared; even as she spoke, her wounds continued to heal- which was going a lot faster now that her body wasn't being continually pummelled with ki blasts and punches and kicks. "I'm starting to become hungry again, and since you're the only meat around, you'll be my meal!"

"No!" Gohan shouted.

Kaosu only laughed. "Don't worry, boy. You'll join them right afterwards!"

Putting her words into action, Kaosu opened her mouth. No, not just opened it- she stretched her mouth to dimensions neither her rival nor the Warriors had ever thought possible. The Z-Senshi and the Guardian of Cosmos soon found themselves staring into what resembled a black hole, brimmed at the top and bottom with rows of sharp, swordlike teeth. Her enemies suddenly found themselves frozen solidly in place on the ground, completely unable to move. Their eyes were fixed irresistibly on what was supposed to be the cause for all their untimely demise.

_*I-it is over,* _Amara found herself agreeing with what Kaosu had just said, her eyes wide with dread that was uncharacteristic of a Saiyajin. Especially a Saiyajin Elite. *_We've all given her everything we've got, and yet she's still standing. Though, I don't know why I'm so surprised, she is a God for crying out loud! How could I have ever thought that this fight would go any other way! We really are done for!*_

That seemed to be the general feeling among the Z-Senshi and the Guardian of Cosmos. None of them still couldn't move when Kaosu began to advance on them- for what might be the last time.

"Yo, ugly! Over here!"

"Nani?" Kaosu turned at once, her maw still stretched out to gigantic proportions; her enemies looked in that direction as well. They all found Kuririn standing in the air a several hundred yards away, looking both very satisfied and very confident about something.

"So, it's that little, bald shrimp," she mused unconcernedly. "But no matter, he's the weakest of the group. He couldn't possibly make any difference."

"What is he doing?" Piccolo wondered, frowning. "He's not thinking of taking Kaosu on by himself, is he?"

"He's a fool if he tries! He'll get killed!" Vegeta said, though his voice lacked concern, but then again, it also lacked the malice he normally spoke to Kuririn with.

Although Amara and Juuhachi-gou watched on without words, similar thoughts were running through their heads.

"Kuririn-san..." Gohan murmured. What was his father's best friend up to-what's that? Squinting his eyes a bit, the ensnared half-Saiyajin saw a glimpse of something shiny Kuririn was holding behind his back. A look of a surprise twisted his face as realization hit, and then he grinned. _*That must be it! Kuririn-san must have found the Dragon Sphere! But what is he planning to do with it?* _

Kosumo also noticed the Dragon Sphere in Kuririn's hand. _*I certainly hope he know what you're doing.*_

Privately, Kuririn was hoping for the same thing. After he had finally gotten the Dragon Sphere away from that anaconda- with a large assist from a Kienzan- he'd quickly rushed back over the battlefield. However, he'd immediately paused in midair when he saw Kaosu attack the others with a energy wave, and then stretch her mouth out to seemingly eat them as if they a full-course meal. But amidst the dreadful fear that he'd arrived on the scene too late, an idea had come to him. He really didn't know what he was planning to do would actually work, though he also knew he had to do something quick, otherwise his teammates and that Guardian of Cosmos woman were done for.

"Eat on this, why don't you!" Kuririn shouted. With a quick, silent prayer of hoping that what he was about to do would work, he flung the Dragon Sphere like a fastball.

Being so far, even Kaosu with her God Eyes couldn't make out that shiny streak that rushed through the air toward her at breakneck speed. At first, she assumed it might be a ki blast, which amused her to no end. As if he could kill her when none of the others had a chance! She had decided that as soon as she deflected it, she would kill him first. However, when it got in closer range, Kaosu realized with rapidly-growing horror that it wasn't a ki blast Kuririn had thrown at her, but her second mortal enemy- the Dragon Sphere. Unfortunately for her, though, by the time she had figured that out, the bronze, dragonic orb completely bridged the gap between them...and flew straight into her mouth and down her throat.

"Yatta!" Kuririn cheered.

So surprised by this, Kaosu's mouth immediately returned back to normal size. Her clawed hands clutching around her own throat in some desperate attempt to remove that accursed Dragon Sphere she could feel there. The ancient, powerful magic of the sphere was already devastating to her when it attacked her from an outside standpoint, but that pain was nothing compared from feeling the Sphere's wrath from an inside standpoint. She let out a strangled wail of pain as she felt the powers of the orb burning at the inside of her throat like acid- the horrid feeling spread throughout all of her body, searing viciously at her entire viscera. In fact, her body was even beginning to slowly rot. She'd never felt such an intense feeling of agony. It wasn't right! She was a God! She wasn't supposed to feel pain!

The others watched it all in astonished silence. Then, Kosumo shook herself out of her daze and turned to Gohan.

"Now! Break free now!" she yelled urgently to him. "You should able to do it!"

Instantly understanding, Gohan's expression twisted in concentration as he tried to summon up his power and rage again. This time his hair spiked gold and gold fire detonated from the confines of his body, easily burning away the magical bonds. Everyone but Kaosu and Kuririn (because he was still had a far enough distance) had to shield their eyes momentarily from the radiance of Gohan's power. When they could finally see again, they looked back up and stared up in identical shock.

Gohan hovered high up in the air, standing in all his Super Saiyajin Two rage as he stared down mercilessly at Kaosu. In spite her condition, the Chaos Goddess was still able to gawp up at the young warrior in real terror. This was it! This was that power she had sensed from him- that power she didn't want to face even transformed! Damn that bastard for this doing this her!

"So, this is Super Saiyajin Two..." Juuhachi-gou remarked, sounding and looking very astounded. This was the strength that defeated Cell.

"You haven't seen nothing yet!" Piccolo said, smirking.

Standing a little away from Vegeta, Amara was gaping up at Gohan as well. Just when that half-Saiyajin boy couldn't amaze her any more, this happened, though maybe she should have expected this from the child of Kakarott. So, this was what a true Beyond Super Saiyajin looked like. Glancing sidelong at her brother, she wasn't surprised when she saw the mixed expression of anger and yearning. In fact, she understood completely how her brother must be feeling at that moment. Realizing he was being watched, Vegeta's eyes shifted to his sister's way.

Gohan said nothing. He voiced no declaration that he defeat Kaosu right there and now. He decided to let his actions do all of that, as he took a familiar pose, gathering power. "KA...ME...HA...ME..."

"No...!" Kaosu gasped, taking a half-step back.

"HAAAAAA!" Thrusting his cupped hands forward, Gohan relased the beam, a massive wave of blue-white ki that blazed through the air and encompassed Kaosu mercilessly.

The Z-Senshi and Kosumo threw their arms out in ki-blocks, as the concussion of Gohan's assault rolled over them angrily, pushing them several yards backwards. The whole planet seemed wail in mourning over the lost of the Goddess, as it shook to its very foundation for several long moments. It was as if Kaosu's mere presence kept Omegasei in tact, but without her, it was all about to fall apart. Though thankfully, however, everything gradually became deathly still and quiet, with the tremors leaving nothing more than a few deep crevices in its wake.

Minutes later after everything that had just happened, no one had spoken a word. They all stood or floated in a daze, not quite seeming to have grasp the fact that they'd done out what they'd set out to do. They had destroyed Kaosu.

Landing, Gohan powered down and blew a huge sigh of relief.

Then Amara broke the stunned silence. "Well, I'll be...he actually did it," she said, looking at Gohan.

"Yeah, but he couldn't have done it without Kuririn," Piccolo added.

He and the others then looked around and stared up at Kuririn, who blushed under their scrutiny. Something akin to faint wonder could be seen in Amara's eyes as she gazed at the bald, noseless human as if she'd never seen him before...it was a look that could be reflected in Juuhachi-gou's eyes, as she watched at Kuririn as well.

"Um...it was nothing really," he said bashfully. "Gohan was the one who did all the work!"

Standing at a distant from the others, Vegeta observed Gohan and Kuririn debate back and forth who was it that really made a difference in beating Kaosu in annoyance. So the little wimp got lucky once, big deal. As his hard gaze swept over Kosumo and the Senshi, his gaze fell over Juuhachi-gou. His possessive nature suffered a twinge of jealousy and anger when he saw that faint look of marvel she had in her eyes as she looked at Kuririn, and then he averted his gaze away, savagely stomping that foreign feeling of envy down. He saw right now that he was also going to have to do something about Juuhachi-gou. It had been easy for both of them to ignore one another with this mission they had decided to undertake being serious as it was, but now that it was over with, reality started to kick back in. After that night they shared together, his genitive Saiyajin nature was already starting to think that she belonged to him and any other man she looked at would die a very messy death.

Yes, he was really going to have to take care of this very irritating problem, but how exactly?

Kosumo surveyed the group with a hint of a smile on her face. No- actually, it was Gohan in particular she regarded. Suddenly, something caught her eye on the ground nearby. Walking towards it, Kosumo bent down briefly to pick up. It was the Dragon Sphere, miraculously still left in tact after Gohan's devastating attack on Kaosu.

"Well, now that Kaosu's finally taken care of, we can leave now," Piccolo said.

"In case you've forgotten, Kaosu destroyed our ship," Amara reminded them sharply.

"Ah, man!" Kuririn groaned. "I forgot all about that!"

"Yeah, just how are we going to get back home?" Gohan asked, looking puzzled while he scratched his head in an unconscious imitation of his late father.

While the other Senshi had been wondering that, Kosumo the Guardian of Cosmos flashed the group a smile, knowing that her job in this realm wasn't done just yet.

"If you need to get to Earth, I could help you with that."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	12. Homecoming

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twelve: Homecoming**

* * *

That late evening at God's Palace, there was no one standing on the courtyard. Then, moments later, a sphere of white light appeared in the center, and when the light dissolved away, it was revealed to be the Z-Senshi, Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and Kosumo. Everyone but the Guardian was looking around in varying levels of surprise.

"Hey! We're back on Earth!" Kuririn cheered.

"All right!" Gohan exclaimed.

"If we're back on Earth, then what is this place?" Amara wondered, looking this way and that.

"We're in the Heavenly Realm at God's Palace," Piccolo explained. "This where the Kami of this world watches over the planet."

"I must be going now," Kosumo announced, drawing all eyes on her. "Thank you for all your help, brave warriors. I'll be seeing you again in the near future."

Raising her Cosmic Glaive in the air, the blade started to glow with a pearly light. The warriors only had a second to wonder just what was she about to do, before that very light erupted softly from the Glaive, spreading outward towards them. Each of them reflexively either put up an arm or crossed them in instinctive attempt to shield themselves from this unknown light, but it did nothing to stop the light from enveloping them all. For the space of a moment, their whole world was pure white, leaving them completely blinded. Then in the next, the radiance faded and they were all able to see again. Dropping their arms, everyone immediately looked back in the last direction they saw Kosumo, only to find the space vacant.

"She's gone!" Juuhachi-gou said, looking genuinely surprised.

"Hey! All my bruises are gone!" Kuririn said, staring down at himself in amazement. The others were doing the same. "Even my clothes are good as new."

"So are mine!" Gohan said.

"The Guardian of Cosmos, huh..." Piccolo murmured reflectively.

"Do you know who she is, Piccolo-san?" Gohan queried curiously.

"Somewhat, yes," Piccolo answered, nodding, "but she's mostly shrouded in mystery. She is the lone deity protector of the Cosmos order who is forever locked in conflict with the forces of Chaos. The Guardian of Cosmos isn't even supposed to be seen by the likes of us, but with Kaosu making a return I guess that just couldn't be helped."

Both Gohan and Kuririn looked amazed to hear that.

"I wonder what she meant by seeing us again in the near future, though?" Kuririn asked.

In the next moment, Mr. Popo and Dende both came running out of the palace. They drew up a short distance away.

"So, it was you we sensed!" Dende said, obviously pleased to see his teacher and the others back- well, some of the others, anyway.

"Welcome back," Mr. Popo greeted.

"Huh? Where's Vegeta-san?" Gohan asked, looking around in surprise when he saw the Prince nowhere in sight.

While some of the others looked that way in puzzlement, Juuhachi-gou pointedly refuted to look that way.

"That's Vegeta for you," Kuririn said, breaking the silence, grinning. "He just hate to stick around for happy endings."

"I'll be leaving now, too," Juuhachi-gou said abruptly, turning around on her heel and walking away. Amara glowered at her retreating form before she jumped over the side of the tower, righted herself, and flew towards the world below.

"I better get going as well!" Gohan said. "I know Mom's worried about ever since I left. See ya' guys later!" Within a matter a few moments, Gohan was making his way home too.

Amara was very peeved right now. While this business with Kaosu was settled, she was still without a ship and stranded on this planet. Night would soon be there, and she didn't have any place to stay. Just her luck...With a sigh, the Saiyajin no Oujo spun on her heel and stalked off, in spite of having no knowledge of just exactly where she as going. She'd got in five steps, before she was suddenly stopped.

"Oi, Amara-san, wait up! Where are you going?" Kuririn asked, running up to catch up to her and overtook her.

The Saiyajin no Oujo turned towards the bald human warrior, and blinked at him several times.

"Why do you care!" she demanded, making him cringe.

Kuririn felt more than a little sorry for the Saiyajin woman. She was an alien to this planet and didn't really know anyone. He wished he could help her...In the next instant, Kuririn's eyes flew wide as inspiration struck him. He knew what he was thinking was a long shot, but hey, what did he have to lose?

"Um. Amara…I just thought of a great idea," he said, a bit nervously. Amara lifted a brow at him, showing that she was mildly interest in what this great idea of his was. "I'll give Dr. Briefs a call to get a ride off this planet ready for you. But in the mean time, how about come back with me to Kame House? My sensei, Muten Roshi, really owns the place, though. But he has an empty attic room you can crash in. And he really wouldn't mind? So how about it?"

Amara regarded Kuririn earnestly, frowning. Kuririn cringed slightly, fearing that she might hit him or turn his offer down...

"All right. After all, I don't exactly have anywhere else to stay at on this world," she answered a long moment of consideration, much to the surprise of Kuririn.

"Okay then, let's go," Kuririn replied, feeling strangely happy that the fierce woman had accepted his invitation, and tried not to let it show in his voice. "See ya' later, guys," he said, before both he and Amara leaped off the tower and took off towards Kame House.

* * *

Night was beginning to set in by the time Juuhachi-gou had arrived back at Capsule Corporation. While she could have made it back much sooner, she had deliberately took her time so she wouldn't risk the chance of catching up to Vegeta. That would have meant they would be alone again and that was something she didn't want after what happened between them the last time they were alone.

As soon as she went inside, she was greeted warmly by Mrs. Briefs, Dr. Briefs and a returning Bulma, relieved to see her return home in one piece; even Yamucha and Puar who was usually even too frightened to be in the same room with the cyborg look delighted to see her back and in good health. After assuring the two repeatedly that she was fine, the first place Juuhachi-gou went was to her room. However, when she stepped into her room, her expression turned into shock when saw a most interesting visitor standing in front of her window, looking outside. Upon hearing her enter, he turned to face her.

"We need to talk," Vegeta said after a long moment of silence.

Juuhachi-gou stared back at Vegeta. Her brows creased slightly.

"Yes. We do need to talk."

* * *

As the night progressed, Amara's annoyance continued to grow, as well as her impatience. Currently, she was sitting on the long sofa in the living room of Kame House, tapping her fingers repeatedly on the nearby arm of the sofa, while watching the strange box in front of her humans called a TV. Behind her, voices were emanating from within the kitchen; Kuririn was still inside with Master Roshi and Oolong, trying to persuade them to let her stay, and while they were apparently trying to keep their voices down, she could still tell neither of them were too thrilled about the prospect.

In spite her current mood, the Saiyajin Princess found herself very amused about how uneasy the old man and the talking pig-thing were around her. Maybe her brother wasn't so disgraceful as she thought, if he dismayed these people. They obviously knew that the Saiyajin were a race that should be feared.

Honestly, the idea of living at Kame House wasn't exactly favorable. That was mainly because the house was colored pink, and she hated the color. What kind of man would live in a pink house, anyway? She knew the Earth was an inferior planet, but surely there were better accommodations on this world for a warrior of her royal blood. The place Vegeta was shacking up at was a lot better than this, but even if she was asked she wouldn't want to stay there, considering her hated foe lived there, and as well as the knowledge of what the other woman and her brother were doing. However, she knew she was really in no position right now to complain about how someone else house looks. Kuririn was inviting her into his home when he could've just easily let her wander around until she found a cave or something to live in. So for now, she would just ignore how the house look and endure it

_*Besides, it's not like I'm staying on this mudball forever,* _Amara reminded herself. _*As soon as I can get a ship, I'm gone...until I've become strong enough to dismantle that android!*_

Amara immediately looked out the corner of her eye when she suddenly heard Kuririn and the others coming out of the kitchen. She stood up and to face them, wearing her usual stony, disdainful expression.

"Well, it's all settled, Amara-san," Kuririn said. "Master Roshi-sensei has with you staying here."

"I'm delighted," Amara replied dryly, regarding the old man. Somehow, she wasn't surprised considering what Kuririn had told her about him on the way over there.

Bringing his in front of his mouth, Kamesennin clears his throat loudly. He then walks over to the sofa and takes her left hand to shake it vigorously. Amara frowned down at him in puzzlement.

"Amara, as owner of this house, allow me to personally welcome you to Kame House," he said pleasantly. "I promise to make your stay here at my home a very comfortable one."

No sooner had those welcoming words left his mouth, both Kuririn and Oolong found themselves staring in equal disbelief a moment later, when Roshi's free hand abruptly found its way to Amara's right breast, blatantly squeezing it. Naturally, the Princess herself wasn't amused by this in the least bit; in fact, she was glaring down at Roshi in pure bloody murder, her left eye twitching.

"Why you little...HOW DARE YOU!" she snarled in anger.

"Ut-oh!" Oolong exclaimed in dismay, already knowing what's coming.

Both he and Kuririn simultaneously looked away. A moment later, the two cringed when they heard a thunderous crash. Wanting to see what had become of the lecherous martial arts expert, the two looked up again, and their jaws dropped when they discovered Master Roshi pasted face-first onto the wall-no, more like pasted _into _the wall within a human-shaped crater, twitching in pain. The two turned to Amara, who was still glaring ferociously at the old man.

"Well, at least she didn't kill him," Kuririn said sheepishly.

Oolong snorted and crossed his arms. "This time."

* * *

Some time later, Juuhachi-gou lay in bed, propped up on her elbows, completely naked. Her eyes slid over to the half-smirking figure lying next to her on his side, just as naked.

"You sure do have an _interesting _way about talking to someone," she said dryly.

"I return those words to you," Vegeta replied, looking smug. "Don't forget, you were the one who started all of this."

Juuhachi-gou's cheeks burned red with embarrassment, and she quickly looked the other way. He was right, she was the one who initiated all of this when she invited him to her room, in so little words. And tonight, once again she didn't know what came over her, everything had all happened so fast. One moment, both her and Vegeta were agreeing that they needed to talk about their situation. Then, in the next, she was kissing Vegeta, and after that, everything just spiralled out of control, bringing them to this moment.

"What in the hell is happening to us?" Juuhachi-gou wondered, shaking her head. "The first time should have been the last time...but here we are again. We really should do something before this whole thing gets even more ungovernable."

"Agreed," Vegeta said, his accustomed scowl returning to his face as he sat up. "While you aren't the machine I thought you were, you still aren't fit to consort with someone of my station."

Juuhachi-gou gave Vegeta an exasperated look.

"Stupid bastard! I don't want to consort with you!" she snapped. "I don't want anything to do with you! But that doesn't change what we did, so what are _we _going to do about this!"

"How should I know!" Vegeta retorted.

"You really are a useless person!" Juuhachi-gou said scornfully.

"Useless!" Vegeta repeated, glowering down at the blonde woman. "You'd be more useful to anyone as a toaster!"

Vegeta's comment brought a flush of anger to the lovely woman's face, her china-blue eyes snapping with a inner fire that ended up sending a spike of arousal through the Prince.

Juuhachi-gou barely saw Vegeta move in the next moment. One instant, he had been sitting right beside her, then in the next, he was on top of her, pressing her back down on the bed while while crushing his lips down on hers in a searing kiss. At length, she was finally able to pull away and glared in righteous anger at the scowling face above her.

"You idiot! What the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted, trying to brush off that only-too familiar heat quickly building between them.

"What is it...?" Vegeta asked, gazing down at the woman. "What is it about you- a human female that's not really human- that makes desire overtake me so quickly? I have never had this problem with women before."

Juuhachi-gou didn't respond. How could she reply to that when she was just as confused about all of this as he was?

"But in any case, that old man should be done with my new Gravity Room within the next couple of days or so," Vegeta added. "And when he's finished, that means I won't have to waste any more time with you, because I have more important things to do."

"I'm thrilled for you," Juuhachi-gou replied, the tone in her voice sounding anything but thrilled, averting her eyes from his.

"However..." Vegeta abruptly added, the way he let that one word hang ignited Juuhachi-gou's curiosity, and she looked back at him. When Juuhachi-gou saw that trademark smirk slide across the warrior's face, she definitely knew something was up. "Until he gets it ready, I'll need something else to pass up the time."

Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened. "Wait, you're not suggesting...?"

The rest of her words were cut off as Vegeta kissed her again. Juuhachi-gou tried to resist him again, she _wanted _to resist him. But like it had been for the past two times, resisting was futile as she was soon wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

Well, if only to herself, she would admit that wasting time with Vegeta beat being bored and having nothing to do.

* * *

For the next few days, things were peaceful. After the battle with the Chaos Goddess, Kaosu a week ago, life had quickly settled back down to normal, more or less, with the exception of a certain secret relationship. Dr. Briefs had finally completed Vegeta's new Gravity Room, and the Saiyajin Prince immediately broke in his new exercise chamber. Now the doctor and Bulma were busy working on a new spaceship for the Princess of the Saiyajin.

Speaking of Amara, while she continued to stay there, she kept up her training. While she was momentarily stranded, her objective to become stronger than Juuhachi-gou hadn't changed one bit.

Things were extremely cheerful at the Son House nowadays, as Chichi prepared for the arrival of her second child and Gohan prepared for the next biggest challenge in his life he would have to face: the challenge of being a big brother; of course, his mother still kept him busy with his school work.

Piccolo kept himself busy by helping Mr. Popo instruct young Dende on the ways of being God, though at the same time kept up with his training. He had realized that the Super Saiyajin had far surpassed him, however, he would not allow himself to fall that far behind them.

All in all, everything was just perfect, and that is what gave Juuhachi-gou the foretelling that something was about to happen. Things were just _too _perfect for her liking, and in the jinzouningen woman's abbreviated experience, life was not perfect at all; she considered the fact she even existed as she did right now proof of that. At first, she couldn't place her finger on it, but as the days passed by, the source of this feeling started to become clearer and clearer, until the truth behind it had finally been revealed.

It all began one morning when Juuhachi-gou awoke in bed. Sitting up, stretched her arms out. Almost immediately, her pale-blue gaze shifted down to the empty spot in her bed beside her, and her pretty visage hardened into a scowl. Juuhachi-gou realized it was only natural that she would look that way, because she had become so accustomed to Vegeta being there, if she happened to awake before he did, or see signs of him being there, if he happened to awake before she did. Even after Vegeta got his Gravity Room, he had went back on his word that their liaison would be over, as he still kept coming back. But that suddenly came to a stop two days ago; he just stopped coming in. It was like he was either ignoring her or avoiding her.

However, that wasn't what was bothering her. Too be honest, she would be glad if Vegeta never looked her way ever again. While she admittedly enjoyed him as a lover, on each occasion her pride stung. After all, this was the same man who handed her over to Cell just because he was curious about how strong he would be if he was fully 'Perfect', and yet she was doing such a thing with him. And more than once! Nevertheless, the true reason she was glad of Vegeta's absence was that ever since their affair had went into full swing following their second time together, she had started to feel strange.

The feeling was quite anomalous, she couldn't put it into words at all, but it was causing quite a change within her. Her body temperature kept fluctuating, and atop of that, lately she had been eating for the sake of actually needing to eat. After being turned into a Jinzouningen, Juuhachi-gou had forgotten what hunger felt like, lately she was beginning to remember.

This was Vegeta's fault, she was sure of it! She knew was that she hadn't start feeling this way until started sleeping with Vegeta, and more and more began to suspect that he had something to do with this.

What was going on? What was this strange energy growing within her?

*_Maybe, I should take a closer look at myself?* _she suggested to herself.

Getting out of bed, she walked inside the bathroom to see herself in the mirror. Something else Juuhachi-gou found advantageous about being a Jinzouningen, other than not aging and never tiring, was having the ability to scan herself internally. Narrowing her eyes at her reflection, the hue of her eyes went from china-blue to crimson, and the image of herself in the mirror turned into a schematic drawing. Slowly, she roved her gaze over her body, searching for something out of the ordinary. It was only to she'd gotten to her midsection that she really did find something that wasn't supposed to be there.

Wanting to make sure she hadn't been just seeing things, Juuhachi-gou took her eyes of the mirror and looked down at her stomach. As soon as she did, something like a small, pie chart appeared on her scanner, registering a small energy signal. A soft gasp escaped Juuhachi-gou's mouth at her discovery, her cat eyes changing back to china-blue and flew wide as a sudden comprehension dawned on her. Frowning, she touched her stomach.

It was impossible, but could this foreign energy source she detected within her actually be...

* * *

Later that night, as Vegeta had turned his gravity machine off for the day, he had made a decision to himself. He needed to get away from Capsule Corporation for a while, as there had been more demons raging inside him as of late; far more than the ones he had been combating when he lost his purpose for a short time. For the past few days, there has been something really disturbing him- something that required him to go to somewhere he wouldn't be interrupted and think for a while. However, before he could leave, an uninvited guest stepped inside.

"Wha-" Vegeta began, preparing to snap at the person, as he turned around to face them...

WHAMP!

The blow had been so abrupt and blinding, sending him flying across the room. It was at the very last second that Vegeta managed to regain control of his momentum and flip over onto his feet. He glared furiously at the person who would dare attack him, only to find a pair of eyes glaring back at him with equal fury. Surprise crept up into his face when he realized it was Juuhachi-gou.

And incidentally, the source of his current demons.

"You got a lot of nerve to attack me like that, woman!" he growled.

Juuhachi-gou looked unimpressed. To be more accurate, she looked even more furious. "You manipulative asshole! I'm going to do more than just attack you. I'm going to KILL you for what you did!"

There was a long pause.

Then Vegeta calmly said, "So, you finally know."

Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened, then slimmed quickly. "Wait a minute! You mean to tell me you knew I was pregnant all this time? Why didn't you say anything!"

"What was there to tell?" Vegeta retorted frostily. "Do you think I'm any more thrilled about this than you are?"

Juuhachi-gou was shaking with rage, her fists clenched tightly. With a battle cry, Juuhachi-gou charged Vegeta again, crossing the gap between them at a speed faster than a heartbeat. Although he was still clueless as to what was going on, Vegeta was very well prepared this time as he blocked another attempted right from the angry woman with one arm, momentarily reminding him of how their first fight had started. He then used his other arm to block Juuhachi-gou's attempted left.

Juuhachi-gou was a woman on a mission to demolish, as she unleashed an onrush of wicked punches and kicks on the prince, putting all her strength and speed behind each blow. However, for once in his life, Vegeta was trying to hold back in a fight. After all, how would it look if he fought back against a pregnant woman? But because he was holding back, he found himself actually having some difficulty blocking and dodging her blows; some of them were coming just a little annoyingly close for his comfort. After being intimate with her for so many days now, it was almost easy for him to forget that she was the most dangerous woman on the planet. And that she also broke his arm with one kick. Juuhachi-gou continued to press on aggressively in her attack. She started to lash out at Vegeta with a vicious combo of roundhouse kicks that he ducked and blocked underneath. The Ouji was becoming very aggravated with all of this.

Juuhachi-gou struck out at him with a spinning back kick, but he caught her foot. Juuhachi-gou quickly swung at him with her other foot, only for Vegeta to duck. However, before she could hit the ground, Juuhachi-gou caught herself with one hand and then viciously swung her right foot around her and hook-kicked Vegeta in the jaw. Stunned, Vegeta had no choice but to release his grip on her as the surprising blow had sent him sprawling across the floor, his trajectory ending when the back of his head bumped into the wall on the far side of the room.

Juuhachi-gou grinned down cruelly at the fallen Prince, eying her handiwork with cold satisfaction. That was only a taste of what she planned to do to him for what he'd done. With another battle cry, she lunged toward Vegeta again. However, she was the one that got a surprise this time, for as soon as he saw her coming, Vegeta swiftly kipped up back to his feet. It was obvious that Vegeta was VERY furious now as he let out a scream, powering up into a Super Saiyajin.

She had been expecting that, however, and quickly stopped herself in midair. Though, it didn't help her, for Vegeta suddenly appeared before her at a speed that completely defeated her advanced senses, briefly glowering down at her with cold, bright blue-green eyes before striking her with a half-powered invisible wave of ki. It was still enough to do what he wanted, as it sent Juuhachi-gou plummeting out of the air. But just before she could hit the ground, her cybernetic reflexes kicked in and she stopped sharply. Alighting properly on the floor, Juuhachi-gou immediately drew back in a fighting stance.

"Come on! Is that all you-"

Juuhachi-gou broke off in her words, watched in complete bewilderment when Vegeta suddenly lowered his arm and powered down. For a long time, he just stared at the blonde Jinzouningen woman mutely. Then, a cold fury twisted his handsome countenance. Without saying so much as another word or giving Juuhachi-gou a backward glance, Vegeta stomped out of the room. Within a short moment, he was gone, leaving behind the disgruntled mother of his unborn child to deal with the heavy significance of this situation alone.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	13. Decisions and Changes

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama, Funimation, Toei, and other rich people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own the original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Thirteen: Decisions and Changes**

* * *

Juuhachi-gou was not what one could term as either a "morning person" or "not a morning person". Being a Jinzouningen, she didn't really have to go to sleep at all, and when she did she would always wake up the next day, no matter how early it was, and instantly accept that it was time for her to get this particular morning, however, she was hit with an unusual case of morning grumpiness as she opened her eyes to the new day. Actually, this was a feeling she was starting to become very used to after she had been experiencing the same feeling for the past three days whenever she awoke. But she knew exactly what was causing her to feel this way...her child.

It was now going into the fourth day since she first discovered she was pregnant, and the idea that she was actually going to be someone's mother still hadn't firmly settled itself in her sophisticated mind. She grimaced ferociously at the mere thought of it.

_*And just why should I let it?*_ Juuhachi-gou asked herself bitterly, sitting up in bed. *_Who said I was even going to keep this brat, anyway?*_

While getting dressed a short while later, Juuhachi-gou's eyes inevitably fell down onto her stomach again. Life...there was life actually developing inside her- she couldn't believe it. Although she could still obviously do some things that normal human females could, she just never thought she would still be able to biologically function like one. That was something else her idiot creator had gotten wrong.

_*I wonder what it'll look like?*_ she thought, as she unconsciously started to rub her stomach. But when she looked up at herself again in the mirror and saw what she was doing, she quickly, almost guiltily, took her hand off her stomach, as if she'd just been caught doing something very wrong.

Besides she thought it was a stupid question to ask herself, seeing as how she'd already seen the near-adult version of her unborn child. She already knew that her child's gender was a boy, and that he was going to have a slightly darker shade of her own eye color and fine hair, but strange enough it was going to be red. He was also going to have that deep furrow in his eyes that his father also has whenever he frowned. So, why was she suddenly curious about what her son of this time would look like when he was born?

Maybe that was it? The other one had come already grown, but now she had the chance to see what he could look like if she were to actually go through her pregnancy and give birth to him. Juuhachi-gou rebelliously shook her head to dispel the thought. What was she thinking? Now she was actually considering of going through with her pregnancy, and that wasn't what she wanted...was it?

She had always resented Gero for turning her into a Jinzouningen, even in spite of the advantages that came with them. And now...now she had the chance to prove that she was more than the mechanical construct Gero had turned her into: by giving birth to another life. Could she? Could she really raise a child? There was an awful lot of things one had to do in order to do so. First of all, you had to have money to provide a child with food and clothes, and money was something she just didn't have. She didn't even have her own house. Plus, she knew that children also needed love and to be nurtured, and she wasn't very positive she could do those things. She didn't even smile very much.

_*What am I thinking? I can't raise a child! I just can't!*_ Juuhachi-gou thought wildly. She then scowled savagely, thinking, *_This is all Vegeta's fault!*_

It was also going into the fourth day since Vegeta had ran off to who-knew-where, after she'd told him the news. When the others in the household had learned he was gone, no one seemed surprised, since he had been leaving at spurs of the moment long before she had came there. Since he had left, Juuhachi-gou had done her best to not even think about him. But now that he'd managed to worm his way into her thoughts, she was going to take this chance to lash out at him for what he was putting her through, since she wasn't able to do it to him in person.

Thinking she had better get it over with, Juuhachi-gou had went ahead and told them all that she was pregnant. While she never once brought Vegeta's name up, everyone knew Vegeta was the father right away, of course. Everyone had been stunned to say the least. Especially Yamucha; the scar-faced man had stared at her so wide-eyed, it was a wonder his eyes didn't fall of the sockets. Bulma, while still very surprised herself, congratulated her as well, while both Dr. and Mrs. Briefs took the news in stride. Instead of throwing her out like she had feared they would when they told her, it all ended with the Briefs family telling her they would help her and the baby out.

_*Damn you, Vegeta! And damn me for being so weak-minded!* _Something like grudging resignation crept into her furious expression. *_But I couldn't really stop myself. Neither of us could. Even though you're a manipulative little man Vegeta, you were very good at what you did. Why did I ever accept Bulma's invitation to stay here?* _She knew the answer to that last question, but decided to not think about it right now.

Juuhachi-gou sighed. Thinking about Vegeta wasn't going to help her with what to do about their unborn son. After all, she knew it would be extremely stupid of her to expect anything from Vegeta once she'd told him she was pregnant. Still, what was she going to do?

_*There's always abortion,* _a part of her suggested.

She mulled over that for a time. Should she do abortion and just get it over with? While the Jinzouningen within her was all for the idea of removing any 'contamination' from her perfect body, the human in her-what was left of it, anyway- disagreed with the idea with surprising equal strength. It left her conflicted in making her decision, and Juuhachi-gou hated being conflicted. What to do, what to do...

One thing for sure, Juuhachi-gou mused, she really needed to get away from Capsule Corp from a little while. She could agree with Vegeta on that at least.

* * *

Far from civilization, in the shadows of some treetops, a shadow leaped from limb to limb, moving with the grace and speed of a panther. Scents of prey were heavy in the jungle that afternoon, and according to his stomach, it was lunch time. He suddenly paused on a branch, becoming as still as a statue, as he saw a large antelope wandering innocently out into the opening; spotting a berry bush nearby, the antelope trundled over to the bush to have some lunch of its own, still unaware that it was being watched.

In the shadows, the figured smiled ferally. The creature was his.

Abruptly, a bestial howl sounded through the air, sending frightened birds bursting out of the canopies of trees and flapping away to quieter and safer places. The beastly noise startled the antelope; it snapped its head away from the delightful berries, looking alert. While it may have only been an animal, even it was smart enough to know that danger was around, and it could now sense it in abundance.

The antelope sprinted off, and the predator gave chase. The antelope ran full speed down the trail, trying its hardest to get away. But the predator that pursued it was like no other predator it's ever come across. It had no hope of escaping; especially a Saiyajin Prince.

Seeing his chance, Vegeta sprung off the branch and pounced on his chosen prey. The two fell into a tangle on a ground; the antelope struggled desperately against the Saiyajin to get free, but its struggles were in vein against it's much stronger attacker. All it took was a quick twist of the creature's neck, and the struggles ceased completely.

Rising back to his feet, Vegeta, dressed in nothing but his blue spandex pants, smirking down at his catch.

Momentarily, he was walking through the jungle, carrying lunch over his shoulder. His blood was still singing with excitement from the thrill of hunting. After having people serve him food for days on end, it always felt rather invigorating and fulfilling to hunt for his own meal. There was just nothing like the feeling of pursuing a prey in a futile chase, before finally catching them. Soon the ground turned stony and began to slope upwards, leading Vegeta to a cavern. It was the place he'd chosen to be his sleeping quarters whenever he came to his quiet place to be alone and train peace.

Vegeta had just crested the top of the incline when he looked up, and he halted at once, his good mood completely souring. There was someone standing in the mouth of the cave- someone he really didn't want to see right now.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Vegeta demanded, sounding very unwelcoming.

"You know very well damn why I'm here, brother," Amara hissed, glaring at him stonily. "These past few days, I've been hearing some very interesting stuff about you and Juuhachi-gou. How could you?...How could you impregnate that clockwise mannequin?"

"I'm not interested!" Vegeta told her at once. "Go away!"

"I will NOT!" Amara bellowed wrathfully, her ki spiking. "I've heard the stories about your son- Koji, wasn't it? Vegeta, just when I didn't think you could get anymore lower than you already are, you went and did this! Disgraceful filth! Father must be shaking his head at you in shame about now. If we were still on our home world, he would've ordered you to be executed at right away!"

"But he isn't alive, IS HE?" Vegeta barked, about to lose his short temper. "Furthermore, I could care less about the opinion of a dead man! Now leave my sight, you're really starting to piss me off!"

"And just what are you going to do about this?" Amara demanded.

"Do about what?"

"Don't make yourself look any more stupid than you already are!" Amara replied scathingly. "What will you decide to do about the Jinzouningen and your spawn?"

"That has nothing to do with me," Vegeta replied. "What that woman decides to do with the child is her business."

"Dumbass! This has everything to do with you!" Amara retorted. "As the Prince, it is your obligation to make some kind of decision. Whatever you decide to do, hopefully for your sake, it won't disgrace the memory of our royal family anymore than you already have!"

With those words, Amara jumped up and took off in a burst of speed. Vegeta watched her leave in cold exasperation. Who did she think she was? Trying to order him around, and look down on him at that! He had every impluse to go after her and remind her who was the superior sibling, but...At much as he hated to admit it, she did have a point. He was going to have to make a decision very soon. He knew he couldn't leave the air open between him and Juuhachi-gou like it was.

Damn it.

Looking thoroughly disgruntled, Vegeta walked inside his cavern without an obstruction this time to eat his catch. And also to do some thinking.

* * *

It was a gorgeous day outside, but also quite a hot one. While most of the other citizens of West City were being assailed by the oven-hot weather, it didn't bother Juuhachi-gou, being a Jinzouningen and all. Sure, she could feel the warmth of the sun beaming down on her, however, it just didn't bother her like it was obviously doing the humans. She was currently walking down a sidewalk as if she was as regular as the people that walked beside her or passed by her; why she'd rather fly than walk, she'd deemed it wiser to convey a aura of normalcy around herself and not do anything out of the ordinary to draw attention to herself. And people seeing her fly would definitely draw her all sorts of weird, crazy looks. It annoyed her just thinking about it.

Besides, her destination wasn't exactly fixed so there was no need for her to be flying. This time was all about clearing her head and taking her mind off her troubles, and she was going to take advantage of it. She strolled at a leisure pace, sometimes staring at the ground and at none of the people passing her by or walking beside her, sometimes she actually did look at the other people around her. On one occasion, when she looked around she saw a couple of guys-quite unattractive guys, by the way- leering at her with looks of sexual promise, something she'd got often enough from Vegeta; in return, she glared so harshly at them that the two men tripped over each other trying to flee from her vicious stare. On another one, a kindly looking elderly woman smiled pleasantly in her direction, and surprisingly, she returned a vaguely, affable smile and nodded at the woman.

Now she was smiling at strange, unfamiliar people? Must be the mood swings, she decided.

She soon stopped at a crosswalk, where a group of other people were already standing there, waiting for the like to change green. Soon enough, the light did just that, the cars, one by one, slowed to a stop, leaving a pathway for her and the others to cross on over to the other side. After she did that, she kept on her aimless walk.

Suddenly, Juuhachi-gou noticed a shopping store up ahead, and being the ardent lover of shopping that she was, she sped up. While she could only do nothing but window shop today, unfortunately, she still wanted to see just what kind of clothes the shop had in said window. When she finally arrived, she almost wished she had never noticed the shopping center at all and just kept walking by. Attached to the inside of the display window was a note advertising a sell on maternal clothes, and donned on the mannequins in the widow were a couple of the aforementioned maternal clothes. On one was a burgundy knit dress, and on the other one was a striped tunic top with matching leggings.

Juuhachi-gou fumed at the sight of the clothes, not like being shown what she was in stored for during her pregnancy. That is...if she decided to go on through with it that is.

_*Someone's playing a cruel joke on me,* _she thought furiously.

With a frustrated growl, she walked off. Her feet had led her all the way to one of West City's park; she walked on inside where she took a seat by herself on one of the benches.

"Why did I come here?" she asked herself, as she stared upward into the sky, watching the clouds drift by .

Well, whatever force had made her come to the park, it was relatively peaceful. There wasn't even a handful of people there; it was just her, a mother and daughter, and elderly couple feeding some pigeons, and a few teenagers hanging out. So, she guessed she wouldn't complain about it.

"Hey, Mommy, pass the ball!" called a childish, laughing voice.

"Okay, sweetie," answered a maturer, female voice.

Looking sidelong, Juuhachi-gou found the mother and daughter she had spotted earlier, enjoying a good game of catch. Juuhachi-gou watched the two for a moment, her expression blank. Watching them, her mouth slowly curled into the faintest trace of a smile at the scene. Then she remembered the situation she was in and she quickly glanced the other way, her smile fading completely and her face hardened into a scowl.

_*Could I do do that?* _she asked herself_. *Could I be that affectionate with my own child?* _

_*Ha! You affectionate? That's a laugh,* _a voice in her mind taunted.

She really couldn't disagree with it. She didn't think she could be affectionate if she tried, and along with other things, she knew children needed affection. Juuhachi-gou growled in frustration, her vexation over this whole situation shifting back toward Vegeta. While she was here in West City suffering through this mental fight, he was Kami-knows-where without a care in the world; the bastard! She had the urge to go find him right and break his arm again.

The mother-to-be sighed. No use at getting frustrated over him again. It would do her no good at.

Abruptly, Juuhachi-gou remembered something that Mrs. Briefs said to her during a private chat between them.

_"Oh, I see," Mrs. Briefs said, her face becoming solemn at the realization of just how serious this all was. "So, are you excited about the baby?"_

_"Not really," Juuhachi-gou answered frankly. "I still don't know if I'm going to keep it."_

_"Well, I think you should," Mrs. Briefs opined. "After all, every child deserves a chance at life."_

Those words suddenly made her think of the other Koji- the one from the future, and the life he had there. Thanks to that world's version of herself and her brother, her son's life there had been a living nightmare for him. They had killed his father and all the friends that were dear to him, destroyed the city he grew up in, and just as bad, they had destroyed so many other lives and homes; from what she understood, they had nearly killed off the entire planet's population. Constantly living fear and hatred, constantly having to fight for your life...

A chill actually went through her at just trying to imagine how the life future version of her son was in his time. As well as a feeling of guilt.

_*Why should I feel guilty?* _she asked herself. _*I didn't do anything wrong. I wasn't the one who killed his father or his friends. I wasn't the one who was trying to kill him. So why should I feel bad about what happened to him?* _

_*Maybe I feel guilty because I might be robbing him of a good life here, like I did in his time,* _another part of her concluded.

Juuhachi-gou's frown faded away into thoughtfulness. Should she go on through with the pregnancy? She didn't have to worry about not being able to financially provide for him anymore, now that she had the Briefs' family assurance that they would help her out. There was still that tiny fear that she wouldn't be able to emotionally provide for him either, but she was sure that the Briefs would help her out with that as well. So, really, what was keeping her from going through with it?

She frowned again; she knew why she was still hesitant about it. It was because of Vegeta. She still didn't like the idea of having to give birth to a child of his. Still, no matter how she felt about Vegeta, it wasn't right for her to punish the child just because she detested his father.

Juuhachi-gou sighed with the air of someone who'd finally resigned themselves to their faith. _*Who knows? Maybe motherhood won't be so bad. One thing for sure, though, I know it's going to be anything but boring.*_

* * *

"What? You're staying!" Master Roshi, Oolong, and Kuririn were exclaiming together in surprise. Amara sat before them on the sofa, arms folded and legs crossed, wearing the expression of one who had a decision she wouldn't go back on.

"That's exactly what I said," Amara replied. "Due to Juuhachi-gou's condition, I won't be able to get even with her for a while. If I were to leave now, as soon as she had her get there's a chance she would flee the planet, and I won't let her do that! So, that is why I have decided to continue living on here and wait for the right moment I can have my revenge."

The two humans and the shape-shifter didn't seem to know how to take this announcement at first. It had originally been agreed that Amara would only stay until Dr. Briefs had a spaceship ready for her, but that had been finished four days ago, and now she was telling them that she wouldn't be leaving after all. No matter who liked it or not.

Amara's lips curled in a smirk that was eerily familiar to the three of them.

"There aren't any objections, are there?" she asked.

A momentary pause followed, and during that moment Kuririn, Oolong, and Master Roshi exchanged glances with one another, then turned their eyes back on the Saiyajin Princess.

"Well, in spite Vegeta being your brother, I don't mind you living here with us," Kuririn said with a smile, sounding genuine.

"Hey, if I have to have a vicious space ailen to live here, I wouldn't mind it being someone as hot as you!" Master Roshi said with usual shamelessness, grinning lecherously.

"You just never learn, do you?" Oolong sighed irritably.

"Good, then," Amara said, looking faintly pleased. "It's settled."

* * *

_*So, I'm actually going to keep him.*_

That thought had been lingering inside Juuhachi-gou's mind ever since she had decided to go on through with the pregnancy and have to her son. Motherhood was definitely uncharted territory for her, but at least she wasn't going to have to go through it alone, as the Briefs family had already told her they would give her whatever help she needed. Well, that was one thing she didn't have worry about, thankfully.

Now it was the baby himself that actually concerned her- Koji. Her mind wandered to that mysterious, young man that had been her son from the future, who had been there just a few weeks back. His purpose for being there was to find a way to stop future versions of her and her brother, who ravaged the entire planet from her understanding, any way necessary. She wondered just how exactly he fared in that task? On the night before he left, she remembered telling him flat out that he would never be born in this world. Funny how things didn't work out the way she said.

Even with the Briefs being nice enough to help her financially with her child, it still didn't alleviate her small fear of how to be a mother to her son. Sure Mrs. Briefs told her she would just know when he was first born and she stared into his eyes, but she still wasn't sure.

Juuhachi-gou huffed and tipped her face back to the running shower spray. She was starting to get annoyed with all this worrying. It was so unlike her. This was the kid's fault, she told himself, but she guess it was something she'd have to deal with.

She stayed in the shower a little while longer, before finally turning the water off. Stepping out, she grabbed the towel hanging on the nearby rack and dried herself off. She then went over to the vanity where her blow-dryer was. Turning the blow-dryer on, she dried her hair. When she was done with that, she took the brush that was also laying there and brushed her hair. A short while later, Juuhachi-gou was just about to put her brush back down on the counter when suddenly...her eyes narrowed as her senses became on full alert.

Someone was in her room.

Normally, she would've sensed that a long time ago. She had been so engrossed in thinking about the baby, that she hadn't felt that other presence in her room. Putting the brush down, she went to go see who it was. As soon as she walked towards the door, it slid open for her, and she stepped outside to find quite a surprise. A wave of deja-vu struck her, as she flashbacked to finding Vegeta in her room looking out the window when she returned following the battle with Kaosu. Now she was presented with the same scene.

"You got some damn nerve showing your face around here!" Juuhachi-gou hissed dangerously, glowering coldly angrily at her very unexpected guest.

Calmly, Vegeta looked to face her.

"You should know by now I do what I want," he told her, his voice low and solemn.

Angered by his nonchalant attitude after all that's happened, and because she might damage the house if she were to throw a ki blast, Juuhachi-gou hurled her brush at him with a snarl. Vegeta's eyes briefly widened in surprise, then moved his head to side to avoid the brush.

"Did you really just throw something at me?" Vegeta asked incredulously.

Juuhachi-gou responded by grabbing a pair of shoes sitting nearby, and she flung them both at Vegeta. Just as they were a hairsbreadth of him, Vegeta narrowed his eyes in concentration, and the shoes disintegrated in a quiet burst of energy. Juuhachi-gou looked appalled (she had really liked those shoes too!), then her face twisted back in anger. Turning, she picked up the vase of flowers that had already been apart of her room before she came to live at Capsule Corp, and she threw it at Vegeta as well. Vegeta ducked to avoid it, but the vase ended up shattering as soon as it made contact with the wall. The raging young woman looked around for something else to throw, which just happened to be the TV. Vegeta watched Juuhachi-gou in disbelief as she actually snatched off all the wires from the TV and lifted it up with one hand. Pivoting back to him, Juuhachi-gou prepared to throw that at him, too.

"Woman, have you gone insane?" Vegeta demanded. "Stop throwing things at me! I didn't come here for your petty squabbles!"

"I don't care! Get out!" Juuhachi-gou snapped.

"Not until you listen to what I have to say!" Vegeta snapped back.

For a long time, their gazes locked, black clashing against a pale, light blue. Then, slowly, never keeping her eyes off Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou carefully sat the small television set down on the table. Straightening, she crossed her arms and stared back at him icily.

"Fine. Say what you have to say," she told him, "and then get out!"

Vegeta frowned at her. As he looked at her, he couldn't help but to notice that she was dressed in nothing more than a towel. Juuhachi-gou saw the look he gave her and glared back at him. Vegeta just smirked a bit and then stared back out the window.

"You're having my child," he said after a long pause.

"Oh, I am? Gee, I never would've figured it out, Vegeta," Juuhachi-gou said tartly, placing her hands on her hips.

Vegeta bristled at the acidness of Juuhachi-gou's tone of voice, but he decided to ignore it. As he'd told her, he didn't come back for petty squabble, although fighting with her would've been a lot easier than the real reason he'd come back.

"You're don't understand," he told her. "You're not a Saiyajin. Hell, you're not even a complete human. You're a half-breed, half-human, half-machine. On my world, for a Saiyajin to sire a child with a non-Saiyajin woman like you, would be immediate death for both the woman and the child, if something like this had happened back on my home world. Even if it was the Prince."

"So, you've come back to kill me and my child?" Juuhachi-gou shouted in disbelief, her eyes flashing with anger as she moved closer to confront of him, hands clenching into fists.

Vegeta looked affronted. "Idiot! I have more important things to do than kill pregnant women and unborn brats!"

_*That is true,* _Juuhachi-gou agreed privately. Besides, if Vegeta had come back there with the intentions of killing her and their unborn child, they would've been dead by now. Apparently, she seemed to have struck that very sensitive pride of his, though she cared very little about his feelings right now or at any other moment.

"If you're not here to kill us, then what are you doing back here?" she asked, her curiosity starting to get the better of her.

"As I was saying," Vegeta said in a tone that more than told her to be quiet and let him continue. "That would've happened, IF we were back on my world. But we aren't, it's gone, and as are its laws. And since you are carrying my child...and since I can't seem to get rid of you...there's only one course of action to take."

There was a pause in the room. Then Juuhachi-gou asked, "And that is?"

There was another pause. It was even longer.

"To make you my mate."

Juuhachi-gou stared at Vegeta for a long moment, shocked at his proposal. However, suddenly, Juuhachi-gou burst uncharacteristically in laughter. Vegeta's solemn expression deepened into frown.

"Just what are you laughing at?" he demanded. "I didn't say anything funny!"

Calming down, she said, "So let me get this straight, Vegeta: you came all the way back here, because you decided you wanted me to be your mate?" Juuhachi-gou's expression abruptly turned cold. "Well, you can just forget it! You must have bumped your head while you were away, if you really think I'd ever want to be with you. I'd rather be with someone else like...Kuririn, before I ever got with you."

"What? You'd actually prefer that...that loser over me?" Vegeta asked incredulously, staring at her as if she'd completely lost her mind.

Seeing the look of utter unbelief on Vegeta's face, Juuhachi-gou's expression turned disdainfully wicked. *_So, Vegeta didn't like the fact that a woman turned him down for someone he saw as his inferior, did he?* _she thought, amused.

"And why not?" she replied. "After all, I've always thought he was kind of cute...and I do owe him a lot. Maybe it's time I repaid him for his deeds. Even though he knew he didn't stand a chance, he actually risked his life to try and save me from Cell, after YOU led him to me! From what I understand, it was him who saved me after Cell spat me back out. Plus, he actually tried to wish me human. And atop of that, I know he wouldn't manipulate me as you have. But you're actually asking me this? Give me one good reason why I should!"

Vegeta looked back back at Juuachi-gou briefly in amazement. Then, with a low growl, he grabbed Juuhachi-gou by the arm and roughly pulled her closer to him, so he could look her straight in the eye.

"Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good," he hissed, his voice low and intense. "You are mine, and you've been mine since the first time you laid with me. And you carrying that brat-MY brat- inside you only solidifies that. So, I'll be damned if I let you go running off with some other man- let alone that bald, pitiful excuse for a warrior!"

Juuhachi-gou could only stare back at Vegeta wide-eyed, struck speechless by his words just then. Then she snatched away from him, scowling back at him briefly, before she looked away.

"And he isn't a brat, either, moron!" Juuhachi-gou said hotly after a moment's pause, seeming to have forgotten she'd referred to their unborn child the same way earlier. "His name is Koji."

Vegeta snorted. "Woman, he's my son, so therefore he's a brat. And I'll refer to him as such all I want."

Juuhachi-gou looked at Vegeta in surprise again. That was the second time he had acknowledged their son as his. She had never ever expected Vegeta to even do it once, let alone twice.

Silence fell over the room afterwards. Vegeta had turned away from Juuuhachi-gou to stare back out the window again, for all intents and purposes seeming to be ignoring her now. Juuhachi-gou glared at him. Her mouth started to move as if she wanted to say something, but she decided against it and kept whatever she had to say for herself. Turning, she headed toward her bed and took a seat on the side of it. Folding her arms over her chest, she glowered at him.

For the first time since she'd found came out of the bathroom and found him standing in her room where he was now, Juuhachi-gou noticed that he wasn't wearing his full armor, but the full blue bodysuit instead; he was even devoid of his gloves and boots. She pointedly ignored the fact that he looked actually looked rather good.

"I was deciding on getting an abortion, "she said out of the blue, "but I changed my mind. I'm going to keep him."

There. She'd just said it. She hadn't intended to do so, it just came out. And now that it's happened, Juuhachi-gou knew there was no taking it back. Juuhachi-gou watched and waited, wondering what Vegeta's response would be.

In the ensuing moment, she saw him look back at her out the corner of his eye. He said, "Good. That saves me the trouble of not having to waste my breath."

Juuhachi-gou gawped. Did Vegeta just actually sound...delighted that she'd decided to keep the child? No, she must have misheard him.

Still, just what did he mean by his words? Did it mean that he'd also come back here to try and talk her into keeping their son? She'd thought he'd be more than glad to see her get rid of him, with the way he just took off when she had first told him she was pregnant.

"You've been acting odder than usual tonight, Vegeta," Juuhachi-gou commented, frowning again. "But just because I have decided to keep him, still doesn't mean I accept your offer."

"Oh, is that so?" Vegeta replied, turning around to face her. Smirking, he unfolded his arms and started to advance towards her.

Juuhachi-gou raised an eyebrow at him, as he got closer and closer.

"What are you up to?" she demanded.

"I'm going to take what's mine." On the heels of Vegeta's words, he promptly reached out, grabbed a hold of Juuhachi-gou's towel and ripped it off her.

"Vegeta, you-" Juuhachi-gou started.

"Quiet!" Vegeta said. Then, before Juuhachi-gou could retort, Vegeta silenced her by unexpectedly kissing her. He pulled back a few moments later, laughing. "And to think, you actually thought about choosing that loser, Kuririn, over me. He couldn't even begin to make you feel as good as I can, and you know it!"

So-saying, Vegeta pushed her back on the bed and Juuhachi-gou was taken back to their very first night together, as he climbed atop of her, assailing her in her favorite places. Juuhachi-gou tried her best to resist the hot emotions he was awakening in her, but her body betrayed her; soon even some soft cries and moans slipped out. While she would never tell him aloud (she didn't need to enlarge his already large ego any further) he was right about Kuririn. For all his good points, she didn't think Kuririn could never give this feeling of utter pleasure that Vegeta could.

Due to being a Jinzouningen, who was created solely to kill the enemy of her creator, Juuhachi-gou never really thought about doing something so humanly as getting a lover. Now that it looked as if she was actually going to get one, she couldn't believe that it was going to be an actual flesh and blood mortal, and that that flesh and blood mortal would be Vegeta of all people. This was the same man whose arm she broke in battle not too long ago, and this was also the same man who was responsible for Cell finding her and absorbing her.

Juuhachi-gou's blood boiled a bit at the reminder. She didn't think she'd ever be able to get over that. And what about him? Would he be able to get over her humiliating and defeating him in battle? She doubt it; she knew proud men like Vegeta didn't forgive again, he was the one who came to me with all of this, she reminded herself.

That's right. He was the one who came back here asking-no, more like tell her that she was going to be with him. So, what did that mean? Was he actually going to forget and forgive what's happened in the past between them, or at least ignore it? Could she do either of those things? Juuhachi-gou found herself feeling as confused as she had been while contemplating if she was going to keep her son or not.

Had this been anyone else, outright turning him down would've easily solved this dilemma. But this was Vegeta she was dealing with, and when he wanted something he didn't stop until he got it. Plus, in so little words, he'd already said that he wasn't going to take a no from her. Why? She honestly didn't know. When you look passed all the lust, what else was there between them? Sure a son, but those were just about it. There was no love. She was still having doubts if she could really show her unborn child any when he was born. She may not have been an expert on intimate relationships between a man and a woman, she did know that involved having to express feelings like love and caring toward on another all the time, and neither of them were capable of that. Anger and hatred and violence and lust were the only main feelings they've been able to express to each other so far.

Still, despite all of that, no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Vegeta was a match for her in just about every way possible. And her son did need to have his father in his life...

"All right. I will...be your mate..." Juuhachi-gou finally relented. Still, she tried desperately to cling onto her pride, something that wasn't very easy to do at the moment with Vegeta's mouth, tongue, and hands roaming freely over her body. "B-but that's only because you can teach our son things I can't!...Nothing has changed between us!...And don't think that just because I'm agreeing to this-ohhhh!-doesn't mean I'm going to-oh, sweet Dende!- let you treat me any kind of way you want. Got it?"

Almost immediately, Vegeta lifted his head and met Juuhachi-gou's blue eyes, his own darker than normal, unfathomable. He smirked at her, and then, in a softly fierce tone, he said, "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Then he kissed her again, and Juuhachi-gou finally gave herself up to Vegeta's sensual assault on her. In the back of her mind, before she was unable to think coherently for a while, she thought that life with Vegeta wouldn't be completely horrible if the nights were always like this.

But the days, she knew, were going to be a completely different a story.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	14. Seven Years Later

**Disclaimer: I have no property over Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, or the rest of the cast of the DB/Z world. I do own all original characters, however.**

**Chapter Fourteen: Seven Years Later**

* * *

"Koji, come downstairs," Juuhachi-gou called from the base of the staircase. "It's time for breakfast!"

Shortly, she could hear the sound of someone quickly making their way down the hallway upstairs in a imitation of a stampede. Then a young boy with bright, red hair appeared around the corner, his face split in a huge grin and his azure eyes shining with delight at the wonderful prospect of eating breakfast. Just as Koji had reached the bottom step, Juuhachi-gou reached out and grabbed her six-year-old son by his left arm, keeping him pinned in place with both her hand and a stern glare.

"What have I told you about running in the house?" she admonished.

Her son grinned sheepishly at her. "Oops! _Gomen nasai_, _okaasan_."

Juuhachi-gou scowled deepened, mainly because that was always Koji's response whenever she had to reprimand him for this. But like always, she never could stay irritated at her only child for too long.

"All right," she said, her expression softening. "Just slow down, will you?"

"O'kay," Koji promised.

Of course, just as soon as she released him, Koji stepped off the staircase and ran into the kitchen, anyway. Juuhachi-gou shook her head and rolled her eyes in mild annoyance. She sighed in resignation. Oh, well, she guessed he couldn't help getting so excited at the mention of food. He was a Saiyajin, after all.

As she walked back inside the kitchen, Juuhachi noticed Koji taking his accustomed seat in the chair beside his father. While she sat down in the chair across the table from her husband, something else she noticed was Vegeta lifting his head from his own food to look over at him, that eternal scowl of his deepening.

"Boy, weren't you told not to run in the house?" Vegeta scolded. To his irritation, Koji didn't even give him the courtesy of cringing under the fierce glare he fixed on him, as he started to scarf down his food.

Juuhachi-gou looked amused by it. "Vegeta, not even you can intimidate our son when there's food out in front of him."

Vegeta briefly gazed her way, before he just dismissed the whole thing completely and turned his attention back to his own breakfast. Juuhachi-gou started to eat her own as well. While she didn't really need to eat, she did so anyway in a attempt to maintain a aura of normalness around herself- well, as normal as she could considering the family she had. Eating her own breakfast, Juuhachi's blonde eyebrows narrowed faintly in disgust, as she observed her mate and son consume their meal rapidly; after years of witnessing the eating habits of the Saiyajin, she still wasn't used to it, and probably never would be.

Even as it was happening, it was still hard for Juuhachi-gou to believe that her and Vegeta were actually sitting down at a table and eating breakfast like a normal family with their son. Seven years ago, when Gero had reactivated her and Juunana-gou, the only thing she saw in her immediate future was her and her brother getting revenge on the doctor and carry out their orders to eliminate Goku, ironically enough; but beyond that...nothing. Although she never told her brother, she had privately feared that they would just 'shut down' once they had completed the task Gero had programmed into them.

Fate apparently had other ideas, however.

In her opinion, her new life was nothing but another case of how some of the strangest things could happen. After all, who would've ever thought her and Vegeta settle down together and have son? Or actually make the relationship work as long as they've managed to? She sure didn't, especially after that fight on the highway they had so long ago. As great as she knew his pride was, and even though it was his own choice to lay claim on her, she knew he probably had never completely gotten over that, just like she hadn't gotten completely over what had had happened to Cell. She doubted either of them would, really. Their new relationship, while very shaky in the beginning, was much better these days. Those who knew them would be pretty stunned to see that they could actually have civil conversations with each other now. Though they still bickered at times, overall they've settled their differences with each other- for the most part. While she knew she didn't detest him as she once had, she still didn't know how she really felt about him. She didn't know how he felt about her in return, but due to being with him for so long, she knew that if he didn't want to be there he wouldn't, and he wouldn't have chosen to be with her in the first place, so she never really thought about he felt about her all that much. Nevertheless, over the years they had forged an understanding, of sorts, between one another, by erecting boundaries around themselves. That in return allowed them both to grow comfortable within their new relationship in their own ways. Vegeta, with a surprising respectfulness she didn't know he possessed, never tried to overstep those boundaries, and she did the same. And honestly, she wasn't ready for that to happen, and probably never would.

Koji, on the other hand, she knew she definitely care for-no, she _love_d him. Before he was born, she'd never remember experienced such a feeling before, not that she could remember anything beyond Gero turning her into a Jinzouningen. She guessed she could say she loved Juunana-gou, as he was her twin brother, but it just wasn't as strong as the love she'd felt for her son. It had astounded and frightened her at the same time, at the love she had for her son the moment she stared into his angry, newborn face when he was born. The two of them had them had bonded instantaneously. Now at the age of six, her son was a good-natured child who quite clearly had his father's cocky attitude, and also a tendency to misbehave a lot at times. While anyone she knew could obviously see that motherhood had softened her up over the years, she still had her hard edge hidden underneath and would reveal it at any moment when she needed to.

About a year ago, while Vegeta had been in a very rare expansive mood, she had finally asked his opinion on why Koji had red hair when neither of them did. Naturally, he had put the blame on her, saying that obviously the very same genetics that made her were at fault about their son's humanly soft hair and its odd color. She couldn't disagree with him, as that was sort of the same conclusion she had came to on the matter.

With the Briefs already helping her and her family out so much already, Juuhachi-gou had requested if they could live in one of their capsule houses. Not only did Bulma obliged, but she gave her, Vegeta, and their son one of their prototype top of the line manor houses they still had in storage, and now they were living in it nearby Capsule Corporation beside Dr. Briefs's old experimental airfield he didn't use anymore. Surprisingly, at first, Juuhachi-gou had personally thought it had been a bit extravagant for just three people, but even more surprisingly, Vegeta of all people told her not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Juuhachi-gou was so grateful to the Briefs' help over the years. Without their financial support, she didn't know where her and her family might be right now. Vegeta wouldn't lower his pride and go out to get a job and instead spends most of his time training in his gravity room- whenever he was home, anyway. It infuriated her to no end, and a constant source of arguments between the two of them, but there was nothing she could do about it except just be grateful for the Briefs' help. Although, she was always wishing for the day they wouldn't have to rely on the Briefs so much.

When Koji had swallowed down the last of his breakfast, he glanced over his shoulder at his mother with hopeful, blue eyes.

"_Oi_, _Okaasan_, can go play with Goten-kun now?" he asked, referring to Chichi's second son, and his best friend.

"Koji, you know very well that you have go to attend your school lessons over at Bulma's place this morning," Juuhachi-gou reminded him. "You can go play with Goten afterwards."

She didn't see Vegeta look up and frown in her direction at the mention of "school". He thought it was all utter nonsense and had even told her so once; Juuhachi-gou, in a pique of temper, retorted that it wasn't nonsense, and that she made him do it so that one day he could get a high-paying job, instead of becoming a good for nothing bum like his father.

Over in his seat, Koji deflated. "Oh, school. I forgot about that," he said unhappily; in truth, he clearly remembered he had to go to school today, he just didn't want to go. Forgetting at the moment that his mother wasn't a normal woman like his Obasan Bulma and Goten's mom, he muttered a "damn" under his breath.

"And what I have told you about your mouth?" Juuhachi-gou scolded, throwing another severe glare at her son that he quailed under.

There was a sudden knock at the back door. Before Juuhachi-gou could get out of her chair to answer it, Koji had already beaten her to the job. Opening the door revealed a cute, little girl standing on the other side. She had black, slightly chin-length hair and dark eyes that laughed playfully. But as loveable as the girl may looked, everyone in the house knew from her parentage that behind that sweet exterior was a powerful, scrappy little kid with a streak of mischief that could rival Koji's.

"Morning, Hoshi-chan!" Koji greeted.

"Good morning, Koji-kun! Ready to go off to school?" Hoshi replied. Unlike Koji, Hoshi actually liked going to home school. Though she really didn't have to like Koji did, she just did it just so she could have something to do. Looking pass Koji, Hoshi saw Koji's parents and bowed towards them respectfully. "Good morning, Uncle, Auntie!"

Juuhachi-gou nodded at her in acknowledgement. Vegeta said nothing, of course, that was mostly due to the fact that he was still eating, but he briefly looked in her direction, anyway, before he turned his attention back on his food.

If anyone had thought he and Juuhachi-gou getting together and having a child was a shock, then his sister doing the same with Kuririn was just as a shock, or close to it. Who'd ever thought Vegeta's fiery and proud relative would take interest in the funny looking, hairless man? Of course, no one could call Kuririn that anymore, as nowadays he was sporting a hair full of jet-black hair.

"All right, we're leaving!" Koji said. "Bai bai, Okaasan! Tousan!"

"Bye!" Hoshi said, as the two half-Saiyajin were heading out the door. But before they could get completely out-

"Hold it," Juuhachi-gou said. "Koji, I had better not find out you skipped out today like you did last time. I _will _be checking up on you!" she promised in a menacing tone.

With a sulky wave, and a promise that he wouldn't disobey her, Koji and Hoshi walked out the door and took off into the air together.

As Juuhachi-gou walked over to close the door her son had left open, she didn't close it before making sure that Koji didn't get the idea to try and sneak towards the other direction when he thought he'd gotten far enough from her eyesight. The ability to see things faraway was something else she had to grudgingly thank Gero for. It came in very handy with her son's impish ways.

About a couple of years ago, she had finally revealed to Koji of being a cyborg. At first, she had been a bit worried he might've been freaked out, however, her son's reaction had been the exact opposite. He'd been enthralled to discover his mother was one of those cyborgs he watched on those cartoons and sci-fi movies he liked to watch, though, he'd been disappointed when he'd ask her was he a half-Jinzouningen like he was half-Saiyajin and she told him no.

When Juuhachi-gou had turned around to gather up her son's dirty dishes and her own to wash them, her eyes widened a bit when she discovered Vegeta- who'd finally finish his food- was watching penetratingly her from the table. Juuhachi-gou didn't know why but over the past few years she's been with Vegeta, she would sometimes catch him examining her from afar whenever he thought she wasn't looking; and sometimes when she caught him staring at her like that, she'd see him giving her another kind of look, one that was soft and intense at the same time. Honestly, it made her uneasy whenever he stared at her like that. It was as if he was trying to break away those very same walls she'd shielded herself behind from him, and she didn't like it one bit.

Looking away in annoyance, Juuhachi-gou walked over to the table and started gathering up all of the dishes to place them in the dishwasher. All the while, she pointedly didn't look Vegeta's way, as she could see out the corner of her eye that she was still under his scrunity. It had always been on the tip of her tongue to ask him why he kept doing that, but yet another thing she's come to realize about Vegeta over the years is that if he had anything to say, he'd do it whenever he got ready. So she simply just ignored him; she would've tried voicing her vexation about his staring a long ago, if it weren't for the fact that whenever she did get angry, he got more turned on by her than turned away.

With all the plates Vegeta and Koji left on the table whenever they got through eating a meal, the blonde woman was rather grateful to have a dishwashing machine in the house. She still couldn't see how Chichi could do it manually with all the dishes she knew Gohan and Goten left behind. Sure, she _could_ clean the dishes they way Chichi did, and be finished much faster than her, but just didn't really want to when she didn't have to. Another strange occurrence in her life was getting to know the wife of the man she was created to kill. When her son was friends with both Chichi's sons, it was bound to happen. Naturally Chichi had been wary of her at first, though once Chichi had realized that Juuhachi-gou wouldn't harm her, Goku's wife had warmed up to her.

While the dishes were being cleaned, Juuhachi-gou simply waited. With nothing else to do, she leaned over the counter, propping her face in her hands, and stared back outside the window into the distance...

Something else that's happened over the years was Juuhachi-gou getting Vegeta to teach her how to sense ki. She had no idea how long she'd been standing there, before she sensed him approaching. But by the time she did, it was too late. Abruptly, she felt steely arms wrap around her waist, pulling her back against a warm body.

"Vegeta! What are you doing?" she hissed irritably, glaring back at him out of the corner of her eye.

Vegeta chuckled in her right ear. "Now that the brat's out of our hair for a while, I say we take full advantage. Wouldn't you agree?"

Juuhachi-gou didn't even have to ask what he meant by that. "I _can't _right now. I have work to do!"

It took all her strength to stifle a moan, as Vegeta's hands starting touching her in certain places. Damn him for knowing her erogenous zones so well!

"Work can wait," he growled huskily in her ear again.

On that note, Vegeta turned her around, easily lifted her up on one shoulder, and started carting out of the kitchen.

"_Oi_, put me down, you idiot!" she snarled, flushing in mortification at being carried around in such a fashion. "Put me down right this instant before I bash your skull in! Vegettttaaaaaa!"

But by the time he got her upstairs, just like usual, all of Juuhachi-gou's protests went out the window, eventually.

* * *

Chichi hummed merrily to herself as she washed the dishes-piles and piles of dishes- from this morning's breakfast. She didn't mind having to wash a mountain of dirty dishes every morning, though, because doing so helped remind her of the happier, old days when her husband was still alive. Goku dying again had really devastated her, even more so when he couldn't be wished back to life this time around. Well, to be more accurately, he _didn't _want to come back. Gohan had told her how his father had made the decision to stay dead so that his family and the rest of the people of Chikyuu could be safe from villains who always seemed to be targeting him.

That was so like her Goku- always trying to sacrifice himself for her, their son and friends, and everyone else on the planet. But sometimes, she really did wish he could've been just a little bit selfish. She really did miss him. No matter how much she seemed to always yell at him for doing something or another, she really did love him with all of her heart and knew he felt the same way about her.

Chichi's mood instantly darkened when the suspicious and ominous sound of a glass breaking in the living room reached her ears. Growling in the back of her throat, Chichi dropped the rag on the counter and swiftly stomped into the front room. Almost immediately, her black eyes landed on the shattered remains of what had once been the crystal vase her father given her as one of the many gifts he'd given her after she and Goku got married. And standing next to the mess was a miniature version of her deceased husband, looking back at her with a shameful, apologetic expression on his face.

"Goten-chan! What do you have to say for yourself, young man?" Chichi admonished, her features stern and her arms akimbo, as she waited for her youngest son to explain.

"Uh. Oops?" Goten tried. However, he soon realized his words wouldn't be enough when the scowl on his mother's face deepened. Goten let out a deep sigh and looked as miserable as he could. "_Gomen nasai, kaasan_. My favorite martial arts show came on, and I guess a got a little too excited."

Even after he'd given a much better explanation for his actions, Chichi continued to fix him with her glare for a time. It didn't really take that long, however, when Chichi's expression softened at last.

_Like father, like son, _she mused, as she headed back into the kitchen to get the broom and dust pan, so she could clean up her son's mess. Like with his father, Chichi just couldn't find herself to stay angry at her youngest son for long whenever he messed up. When he was born, she'd been truly amazed at how much Goten had taken after his father. It had been as if Goku had given her a gift before he died, and she guessed that was how she'd been able to cover up the hurt over the years of her husband's death.

"Mama, are you mad with me?" Goten asked, as he held the dust pan for his mother while she swept the broken glass into it.

"No, I'll let it slide this time," Chichi told him with a laugh. "After all, I know the urge to fight is in your blood just like with your Tousan and Oniisan. Just be careful next time, will you?"

"Okay!" Goten promised, his mouth stretching into that family-inherited Son grin.

Chichi had soon finished cleaning the mess up, and she took the dust pan into the kitchen and dumped the broken glass into the garbage can.

"Okaasan, when is big brother coming back?" Goten asked as she came into the kitchen as well, observing his mother heading back over to the sink to finish washing the dishes. "It's pretty lonely when he has to go to school. Why don't I go to school? Koji and Hoshi go to school over at Bulma's house. So why can't I either?"

"Oh don't you worry mister, you're going to school all right!" Chichi firmly assured him. "You're going to be a scholar just like your big brother is going to be. So you can get a job and be financially secured when you're older."

"Oh, boy!" Goten enthused, beaming. Then, a couple of thoughts came to him. "Mama, what's a scholar? And what does finacially secured means? Do they have something to do with food?"

Chichi stared at her younger son for a moment, before she shook her head. Staring upward at the ceiling, she smiled nostalgically. _"Yes, so very much like his father."_

* * *

If only Goten knew how much Koji _didn't _like going to school. Even now, the young half-Saiyajin sat next to his cousin in one of the many labs at Capsule Corporation, listening less than half-heartedly as the Instructo Bot, Bulma had programmed to teach them their lessons, was currently going over some arithmetic on the chalkboard. Meanwhile, Hoshi was listening to their teacher with optimism her older cousin was very much lacking.

Koji sighed forlornly. Why was it that he had to come to school, anyway? Just because Gohan has to go shouldn't mean he had to as well! Goten didn't have to go school! Besides, he was already smart without having to attend school; he was way smarter than Goten, who'd been born just a year before he was. In his mind, people like his friend Goten and his cousin Hoshi needed to go to school. Besides, who in the world heard of a robot being a teacher?

If he could get away with it, Koji would ditch his lessons everyday. The problem was that if he did, his obasan would only tell his parents on him. Sure, his father probably-no, Vegeta _wouldn't _care if he did or not, as he much preferred his son training to become stronger than going to school. But his mother was another matter; she would give him such a reprimanding if he skipped class that his ears would be ringing for another whole day. Also, there was also his mother's, normally cool, ability to see from great distances that was a factor to him being able to escape the boring scholarly activities. He'd once tried to trick his parents into thinking that he was heading for Bulma's when he was actually going to turn in the direction that led to Goten's house instead. However, his mother had caught him in the act before he could get there.

Sometimes, his mother being a cyborg wasn't so cool as he first thought.

Koji had been so busy staring off into space and engrossed in his misery of being trapped at school, that he completely missed it when the Instructo Bot called out to him to answer a question.

"Mr. Koji, please pay attention!" the android teacher barked, causing Koji to snap out of his reverie and jump in his seat out of surprise. Beside him, Hoshi giggled at her cousin's plight.

"Uh. Sorry, teacher!" Koji said, placing a hand behind his head and laughing sheepishly. Though, in his mind, he was saying, "_Yeah, sorry I have to sit here and listen to this crap for another couple of hours. Man, Goten's so lucky he doesn't have to go to school!"_

"Well, now that you're back with us: are you going to participate in class or continue to gaze out into space?" Instructo Bot asked tartly.

"I'd rather continue to look out into space, if you don't mind," Koji muttered.

"I heard that!" Instructo Bot retorted. Drawing its skinny, metallic arms akimbo, it added, "That's it young man! When class is over with, you're going home with a yellow slip explaining your misbehavior and lack of respect to your parents."

While Koji deflated at the announcement, Hoshi snorted with laughter beside him. He shot her a cold look that made him look a lot like his father then.

"Miss Hoshi! Desist with that laughing, or you'll be punished along with Koji!" Instructo Bot said.

"Oh, _gomen nasai_, sensei," Hoshi replied, blushing in embarrassment as she looked down at her hands resting in her lap in shame. Abreast her, Koji smiled smugly at her, an expression that looked entirely too wrong on such a young face.

"Doesn't pay to be the teacher's pet, does it?" Koji whispered scoffing.

Hoshi's innocent expresson immediately twisted in irritation when she looked askance at her cousin. "Oh, go take a long walk off a short peer, Koji!"

"No, after you!"

"Children! Stop bickering at once or I'll put you two in corners!" Instructo Bot admonished, getting so upset that a few sparks flew from its neck. If it could look annoyed, the robotic teacher would be looking extremely so right now. "Oh, you two are going to make me blow a circuit one of these days!"

"Sorry teacher," Koji and Hoshi said together, though with less sincerity from Koji.

"Well, now that that's settled, Koji I'd like for you to-oh! Good day, Miss Bulma!" Instructo Bot had been about to tell Koji to answer the question it had asked him earlier, but broke off in its monologue when it saw its creator strolling into the 'classroom'.

"Hi you guys," Bulma greeted. "So, how are things going in here?" she asked.

"It's going good for me," Hoshi piped up. Looking slyly over at Koji, she added, "but I can't say the same for Koji."

Koji shot the dark-haired girl a dark look for snitching on him.

"Oh? And just what does she mean by that, Koji?" Bulma questioned, fixing the half-Saiyajin with a frown that made him quail; when she was mad enough, his auntie Bulma could almost be as scary as his mother.

"I'll tell you what she means by that," Instructo Bot spoke up. "She meant that he's in trouble for not paying attention in class, and also for making disrespectful remarks. I'm sending a note home with him explaining what he did."

Bulma shook her head at the dark-haired boy in exasperation. "I already can say for certain Vegeta won't care about this one bit, but Juuhachi-gou isn't going to be happy about it, that's for sure."

"Oh, please don't tell her, Bulma-obasan!" Koji implored, giving the blue-haired woman his best puppy dog-eyed expression. "I promise I'll be good for now on, really."

Bulma looked unimpressed. "But you said that the last time you got in trouble," she pointed out, "and the last time..."

"Uh, I mean it this time?" Koji replied sheepishly. Hoshi laughed at him, however, she quickly looked the picture of pure innocence with he shot an icy look in her direction.

Bulma was about to say something, when an cheerful, feminine voice drifted into the room.

"Hello, everybody!" That carolling voice preceded the arrival of Bulma's mother, Mrs. Briefs, but she didn't come in alone. In her hands, she toted a tray full of chocolate chip cookies, and on her back in a pink sling sat a happy looking baby, who looked every bit as Bulma did as a baby. "Bra-chan and I thought Koji-kun and Hoshi-chan might want something to snack on, so we brought you cookies." Bra added her two cents in her untellable babytalk.

"Oh, boy! Cookies!" Koji and Hoshi chorused excitedly, the idea of doing mathematics was completely forgotten by the prospect of chocolate-chip cookies. In Koji's mind, the only good thing about coming to school was eating the sweet snacks Mrs. Briefs would always whip up for them.

* * *

It was quiet as usual on tropical little island of Kame's House, with the sun shining brilliantly on it, turning the sand pure golden...

KABOOM!

Well, so much for it being another quiet day! There was quite a bit of commotion going on- and it wasn't coming from Kame's House but on an island not too far from the little beach. It was why Kamesennin was standing near the edge of the island, looking out into the distance, instead of stretched out across his accustomed beach chair, asleep with a sukebe magazine laying across his face like he'd normally be doing at this time of day.

"That wife of yours sure is nosier than usual today, Kuririn," the Turtle Elder remarked to the shorter man standing alongside him.

"Well, she is a Saiyajin after all," Kuririn replied with a grin, while running his hand through a head shockingly full of black hair. It still felt rather strange to monk to actually have air after being bald for most of his life, but he guessed he had his wife's stubbornness to thank for that. It had been her who had wanted him to grow it out, because she said hair actually looked good on him. His wife very, very rarely, if ever, complimented him, and when she told him that, he quickly stopped waxing his head and started letting his hair grow out, just to make her happy.

In the next instant, a ball of energy swirled into existence in the center of the island- and then it erupted. Waves of energy were sent all over the place, making the sea violently choppy. Roshi and Kuririn were struck by the concussive air of the explosion and sent hurtling into the side of the Kame House, leaving man-shaped dents behind as they peeled off. After another few, long moments of this, everything had slowly settled back down to normal. There was a momentary still in the air afterwards.

Just as the groggy pair were pulling themselves back up to their feet, a half-annoyed, half-curious looking Oolong shot his head out of the window.

"Hey you two, what's all that racket out here?" he demanded. "You're messing up the tv reception!"

"Don't look at us," Roshi protested. "That was Amara's doing."

"Amara? What's doing over there, anyway?" Oolong asked.

Kuririn looked at him and shrugged. "She's training. What else?"

Meanwhile, on the aforementioned island, that last explosion had left quite a bit of damage. The ground was severely splintered and burnt here and there, many trenches splintered the ground, trees had either been cracked in half or burnt into ashes, and the charred remain of animals that had unfortunately gotten caught in the ferocious battle that had been going on lay strewn everywhere. In the center of an island, sat a deep crater, and in the center of that stood the one responsible for all this destruction, who was in the midst of trying to catch her breath after the hard workout she had just put herself through. But even after all of that, Princess Amara didn't feel tired in the least. In fact, she felt incredible.

"So...this is how it feels...to truly master Super Saiyajin," she said between breaths, marvelling down at herself while in her transformed state. Looking skyward, she grinned fiercely. "Prepare yourself, Juuhachi-gou. I'll be paying you a visit soon!"

* * *

"All right! Everybody put your damn hands up in the air pronto, and no one gets hurt!" barked a man in black clothes and black ski mask, aiming a gun balefully at the horrified-looking people standing in front of him. The people stood petrified in place, each of their hands raised high above their heads as the dark man had ordered, and their expressions twisted in panic and fear.

And just when you thought it was safe to go to the bank...

A second man in black, a bit shorter and stockier in built than his accomplice, was training his own gun on the two bank tellers behind the desk. "Hey, you two! Dump all the cash you got into this bag, and do it quick! And you better not try anything funny, if you value your life!"

"Uh, yessir! Right away, sir!" said the frightened bank teller in the right, a lanky, black-haired man in glasses. The man hurriedly deposited all of the money of the cash register into the bag, inspired to moving a lot faster than normal by the gun aimed point-blank at his forehead. The shorter bank robber's eyes were fastened completely on the bank teller, watching every move he made and watching out in case the man tried to pull one on him and trigger a silent alarm or something else to alert the police. After another moment, the bank teller had filled the bag completely to brim with cash- a sight that made both the thieves' mouths water.

"H-h-here you go s-sir!" the bank teller on the left- a stocky, blonde-haired woman- stammered, handing the money-filled bag over to the second bank robber with a shaky, hesitant hand. The masked man snatched the bag away from her impatiently.

"Good. Very good," the robber sneered. "Now I want you two to come out from around there and stand with the others!"

The two quickly did as they were told, their hands still raised above their heads, as they joined all the frightened customers near the wall. The two robbers stood together, with the shorter one still holding the bag of money, leering at the scared people while still aiming their guns at them.

"Now, all of you close your eyes- close your eyes, I said!" the taller one, obviously the leader of their little gang, shouted impatiently, when the people didn't do as he said right away. He finally got them to comply as all the people closed their eyes. "Now start counting to 30!"

"Yeah, and there better not be any peeking either!" the other one warned.

"1..." the bespectacled bank teller started the people off. Then the others started to join in.

As the people were nearing ten, the two exchanged quick glances and nods, then took the chance to make their exit with the stolen money. When he'd heard the door close, the bespectacled risked opening an eye and looked up. He saw the men had really left, so he took the opportunity to dash back over behind his desk, reached under it and tapped the trigger alarm to alert the police...

A couple of minutes later, high up in the air, a now seventeen-year-old Son Gohan was making his way across the sky on his father's old transportation: Kintoen. He was on his way home from school at Orange Star High in Satan City. It would be his second week, actually. Chichi felt she had taught Gohan all she could, so she decided that he should go to a public school like other young people his age to further his education. So far, things were going great...sort of. He'd seem to have befriended these two girls, Videl and Erasa, though there was this guy named Sharpner who didn't seem to like him very much at first (which Gohan wasn't even aware of), but Gohan had swiftly gained his respect when he saw the half-Saiyajin in action when it came to Baseball. He had just entered Satan City, when all of a sudden, an alarm went off and blared loudly through the city below. Gohan looked down and frowned a bit.

"Hm. That sure doesn't sound too good," he muttered.

The sounds of screeching tires then reached his ears, and he followed the noise to its source. Down below, a red convertible was moving crazily along the streets, with no regard for traffic laws whatsoever as it ran a stop light and also the traffic light while it was on red. The frown on Gohan's face deepened and he stood on the magical flying cloud; he'd just put two and two together as to what was going on.

Gohan grinned as he pulled back the sleeve of his right arm, revealing a high-tech watch. "Well, it's time for the Great Saiyaman to make another appearance!"

* * *

"In other news, tonight on Channel 9, a interview with famous and reigning World Martial Arts Champion, Mr. Satan, will be featured on the 8:00 news. We're going to get a good look inside as to how World Champion is getting himself prepared for the upcoming tournament and what measures he'll go to keep his title-"

The radio broadcast was switched off in disgust.

"I swear, if I hear anything else about that poor excuse of a champion, I'll go insane!" snarled a hulking man with long, orange hair.

"For a poor excuse of a champion, he sure did kick your ass good at the last tournament, Spopovich," remarked the smaller, yet still quite tall, man with short, black hair sitting next to him, steering the 18-Wheel truck they were travelling in.

Spopovich glared over at the other man. "Watch it, Yamu! That wasn't very funny! You know how I feel about that!"

Yamu chuckled. "Just kidding. You know I was only joking with you."

"Humph!" Spopovich replied and looked out the window.

"So, are you planning on entering the tournament again this year?" Yamu asked.

"You bet your ass I do!" Spopovich answered vehemently, his eyes ablaze. "If that fool, Satan, thinks he can get away with humiliating me the way he did, he's dumber than he looks! No one humiliates Spopovich and gets away with it!"

Spopovich's grudge with the current World Martial Arts Champion all stemmed back to last tournament that had taken place three years ago. Before the last tournament, and before he'd entered the field of truck driving, Spopovich had been both a street fighter and a part-time wrestler. He'd been successful at both. In either field, Spopovich had dominated- none of his opponents had been able to touch him; he'd been completely unstoppable. Besides the enjoyment of beating up people into pulps, he'd also collected a good deal of money. But soon the excitement had started to wane and he started looking for other hobbies to do.

He'd been walking downtown in his home city one late evening, when he'd noticed a flyer advertising the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai. It had immediately caught his attention, particularly the grand prize money for the winner. He'd thought it would be something different for him to do, and although he wasn't exactly an expert in the art of martial arts, he'd still beaten plenty of martial artists, so that was nothing to worry about there. In all his time as a street fighter and a wrestler, no one could beat him, and he knew none of the other people who'd be participating in the tournament would be able to beat him either. That tournament was as good as his before it started. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Unfortunately, everything had went wrong for him. After Spopovich been able to easily make his way through the premilinary rounds, he'd wound up getting no. 4 in the first round. Coming off of beating dozens of men earlier on just to earn a spot in the main event, Spopovich had been truly cocky, thinking he would easily go through his opponent like paper and work his way through the tournament to capture the World Martial Arts Championship, and also the grand prize money. But his opponent had turned out to be none other than the reigning champion himself, Mr. Satan. Initially, Spopovich thought the fight would be a walk in the park being more than half his opponent's size and weight. He got quite the rude awakening. As soon as the match started, Spopovich went for the first strike but shockingly found himself being easily blocked by his smaller opponent. No used to that, Spopovich was momentarily stunned. He tried again, but got blocked. He tried over and over again until he just lost it and went all out. In that brief moment of fury, Spopovich had lost all focus, and that made him easy pray for Mr. Satan.

Three years later and Spopovich has never let that humiliating loss down. He was never going to let it down...not until he got his revenge at least. And make no mistake about it, no matter what it took, he would pay the World Champion back.

"You know, I heard his kid is supposed to be entering the tournament, too," Yamu's voice cut in through his thoughts.

"Really, now?" Yamu replied, a nasty smile crossing his face at the prospect of the news that his partner had just given him. "Well, then it'll be double the pleasure for me. I'll get to humiliate both Satan and his brat!"

Yamu shook his head at his friend but said nothing.

In the next instant, the road they were on started to violently tremble. The sudden vibrations made it hard for Yamu to keep control of the truck, and the truck started zigzaging. After a few moments of this, the trembling finally stopped.

"What in the hell was all that?" demanded Spopovich.

"I don't know but it sure was strange," Yamu said. "Earthquakes don't normally happen around here."

All of a sudden, a burst of brilliant light had shot up into the air from down below. Yamu saw this and stopped the truck. Spopovich looked out the window curiously with them.

"Now that definitely didn't look normal," Yamu said, starting to feel a bit uneasy.

"You wanna go check it out?" Spopovich suggested.

Yamu nodded.

Yamu turned the truck off, and he and his partner stepped out of the truck and walked over to edge of the mountain road. Looking down, a three mile drop awaited them, but the two paid little attention to that at the moment as they were more interesting into the steaming smoke issuing beyond some cliffs.

"There is where we'll find out what's going on here," he said, pointing toward the cliffs.

"Yeah, but how are we going to get from here, over to there?" Spopovich asked. This time he did pay attention to how far the drop was and he actually felt a bit uneasy staring down.

"We'll climb down," Yamu said simply.

"Climb?" Spopovich repeated, and then he smirked. "Who needs to climb? We can just jump!"

"Jump?" Yamu repeated, looking at his friend as if he'd gone crazy. "Are you mad? Have you not seen how far that drop down there is?"

"Yep, but it's no biggie to me!" Spopovich said recklessly. "Back when I was a wrestler, I was jumping off platforms high up to the ceiling that's a longer drop than this. So, stop wasting time and let's go."

Before Yamu could say anything else, Spopovich had grabbed him, and the two promptly leapt off the road. Yamu let out an exclamation of surprise and fear, while Spopovich whooped in excitement. Shockingly, Spopovich had gotten them safely to the ground as he touched down hard, his large legs leaving twin craters in the ground from the impact. He released Yamu, who was clutching his chest and breathing hard. He glared over at Spopovich.

"You idiot! Don't ever do a stunt like that again!" he snapped.

"Oh, stop your bitching. I got us down here, didn't I?" Spopovich replied, smirking.

"Meh. Well since we're down here now, we might as well continue," Yamu said irritably.

Spopovich snickered at his disgruntled friend. The two then struck off. The area they were in was all but vacant. An interminable amount of time passed by before they reached the base of the cliffs they'd noticed back on the mountain road. Choosing the one on the left, the two managed to find a few outcropping of rocks and began pulling themselves upward. Both had found footholds easily and it wasn't long before they were several feet off the ground. After several moments of climbing, Spopovich had finally reached the top first, then reached down to help his friend up.

Just a second after they'd made it to the top, the two had a bloodcurdling scream.

"What the...?" the two said as they quickly rushed toward the edge of the cliff and looked down to see what was going on.

They wished they hadn't.

Below, a young couple were being accosted by two of the strangest beings either of them had ever seen. One of them was three times the size of Spopovich and red all over, with horns projecting out of his head, giving him the appearance of the devil. The other one was shorter and yellow and also quite hideous.

"What in the hell's going on down there?" Yamu wondered.

Then, right before their eyes, the red one leapt forward at the couple and jabbed something into the man. The man screamed in pain, his lover screamed in fear for him. Shortly after, the man collapsed, and didn't move again. The woman let out a scream of fright and tried to run, but their strange assailant easily caught up to her and administered the same assault he did on her husband, and not too log, she'd fallen into a hopeless heap on the ground. She didn't move at all. All the while, his partner laughed like stark raving lunatic at all.

Back on the cliffs, Yamu and even Spopovich were rather blue in the face now.

"D-did y-you see that?" Spopovich said.

"Yeah," Yamu gulped. He then looked over at Spopovich. "I don't know about you, but I say we get the hell out of here before what those two did those people happen to us as well."

Thinking he may be right, Spopovich followed Yamu as they tried to head back off the cliff. However, they didn't get too far before the two strange, wicked beings noticed them.

"It would seem we have witnesses," the red one commented.

The short one said with a grin, "Very rude witnesses, apparently. They are leaving without even saying hello. We just can't let overlook such rudeness."

On that line, the short being lifted his hands and blue light snaked out from his fingertips, stretching out all the way across area and caught up with Spopovich and Yamu. The two men screamed as they were caught by some strange, unseen force and yanked backwards, then dumped onto the ground right before the strange visitors. Seeing them, both men started backing away, actually shaking.

"Wh-who in the hell are you guys?" Spopovich demanded, his once strong voice now quavering.

"W-what the hell are you guys?" Yamu wanted to know, fear evident in his voice as well.

The devil-looking man flashed the two a sinister grin, while the shorter one erupted in malicious cackles.

"I am Madoshi Babidi...soon to be the master of everyone and everything in this entire universe!" said the short one, then his eyes flashed red with madness.

And he started cackling all over again, his horrible laughter drowning out Yamu's and Spopovich's screams of mortal terror.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	15. Calling Home

**Disclaimer: I have no property over Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, or the rest of the cast of the DB/Z world. I do own all original characters, however.**

**Chapter Fifteen: Calling Home**

* * *

Bulma shut the trunk of her aircar with a snap of finality. She then looked over to her blonde-haired companion with a half-sympathetic, half-wry expression on her face. "I swear, Juuhachi-chan, there shouldn't even be a need for you to do anymore grocery shopping this year. With as much food as you bought, this should last your family to next year!"

"Try pointing that out to Vegeta and Koji," Juuhachi-gou replied dryly. Ever since the blonde woman and her family had moved out of Capsule Corporation, her and Bulma would take trips to the grocery store every other month to get Juuhachi-gou's fridge restocked. The two women got inside the car, Bulma on the driver's side and Juuhachi-gou on the passenger's side. Once she secured her seatbelt around herself, Bulma turned the car on with a twist of the keys; the car smoothly rose into the air and carried them off.

"Bulma," Juuhachi-gou started, after the two had drove a while in silence, her cornsilk hair flagging in the air as they sped through the sky in the air vehicle. "I...I really do appreciate what you've been doing for me and my family these past several years. It really means a lot to me. Thank you."

Bulma smiled warmly over at her friend, while at the same time managing to cover up her surprise, though mild as it was, at the genuine sincerity she heard in the cyborg's voice. "Oh, you're welcome. Hey, think nothing of it. My parents and I told you and Vegeta before you two moved out that we would help pay for all your food expenses and everything else, and the Briefs never goes back on their word."

If Juuhachi-gou could so right then, she would've given Bulma a genuine smile. And one could tell she at least wanted to, as her normally impassive face softened and the very faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Unfortunately, even now she had difficulty expressing herself to most people, except for her son.

"Yes, but I still wanted to let you know that," Juuhachi-gou said. "If it weren't for you and your family's money, I don't know where me, Vegeta, and Koji would be right now. And Vegeta doesn't even care to even realize that." A frown settled on her smooth features as she said that last part, emphasizing the faint bitter tone that had flavored her voice as she spoke just then. "As usual, the only thing he's been too concerned about over the years is becoming stronger than Goku, and lately he's been training Koji in the Gravity Room in an attempt to make him stronger than both Goku's sons."

"But isn't he kinda too young to be going into Gravity Room?" Bulma asked, surprised.

Juuhachi-gou shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, I said the same thing to Vegeta, but his response was: if he's old enough to walk, then he's old enough to train inside the Gravity Room!"

Bulma laughed beside her at the fairly good imitation of Juuhachi-gou had just done.

"Oh, my. You sounded just like Vegeta, just then," Bulma said. "But honestly, I can't see how you've managed to deal living with that impossible man over the years. If it was me, I probably would've either gone crazy right now, or killed him."

Juuhachi-gou couldn't help but to chuckle a bit at that. All of a sudden, a shadow fell over the two women. They looked askance in one motion; while Bulma stared with a blank look on her face, Juuhachi-gou expression was actually twisted in surprise as she gazed at the man that was now flying alongside them in the aircar. She wasn't surprised that he was flying, of course, but mostly because of the fact that he was wearing one of the tackiest outfits she'd ever seen on a person (aside from that cowgirl outfit she had reluctantly worn after her fight with Vegeta years ago). He was dressed in a form-fitting, black bodysuit that showed off an impressive physique underneath, and overlaying the top portion of the bodysuit was a green, sleeveless jacket held in place by a belt with a golden, circular buckle. White gloves and boots covered his hands and feet, an orange cape billowed out behind him, black shades covered his face, and a white turban covered his head. This person was quite possibly the oddest looking person she's ever seen, but at the same time she had this feeling as if she should know him.

"How's it goin', you two?" the man greeted affably..

"Gohan!" Juuhachi-gou replied, staring at the teenager in bewilderment. "Is that really you?"

"Sure is!" Gohan told her. In his best Great Saiyaman voice, he added, "You're looking at the one and only, Great Saiyaman, the Champion of Justice and Love!"

Juuhachi-gou sweatdropped. Bulma only grinned at him.

"Where in the world did you get a outfit like that from?" Juuhachi-gou asked, somehow managing to hide the disdain she felt about Gohan's attire from her voice.

"From me!" Bulma piped up proudly.

"Yeah, Bulma-san gave me this suit so I can fight bad guys while I'm at school without any of my classmates finding out about who I am," Gohan explained. "Don't you think it's the coolest, Juuhachi-gou-san?"

Juuhachi-gou shot Gohan an opaque look for asking her that question. Had it been someone else who'd created that outfit for him, she would've told the half-Saiyajin teenager flat out exactly what she thought of his outfit. But to spare Bulma's feelings, she answered in a toneless voice, "Yeah. Sure. It's cool."

"So, kid, where are you headed to?" Bulma questioned.

"Well, actually I was going to your place, Bulma," Gohan answered matter-of-factly.

"You were? What for?" Bulma wanted to know.

"Because, I wanted to tell you to be the first person I told," Gohan replied. "I'm going to be entering the Tenkaichi Tournament this year," Gohan replied.

"Really?" Bulma replied, very surprised that Gohan would want to enter a fighting competition, as he usually opposed violence unless there was absolutely no choice but him to fight. Like with Cell.

"You don't seem very happy about it," Juuhachi-gou observed.

"So, you've noticed, huh?" Gohan replied with a small laugh.

"But Gohan, why in the world would you want to enter the tournament for, anyway?" Bulma wondered. "There'd be no one there who'll even be at least a halfway decent challenge to you."

"Well, umm, you see..." When he couldn't get his words out, Gohan placed a hand on the back of his head and let out a nervous laugh.

Bulma and Juuhachi-gou then exchanged curious glances, both getting the sudden impression that there was something more to the normally peaceful Son Gohan wanting to compete in the Martial Arts Tournament.

"Gohan, what's going on here?" Bulma demanded, looking at him suspiciously.

Seeing that it was no used beating around the bush any longer, Gohan decided to come out with what had been eating at him for the past few hours. "All right. The reason I'm entering the tournament is because...I was...blackmailed into it."

"What?" "Again?" Juuhachi-gou and Bulma exclaimed in unison. Gohan blushed brilliantly in embarrassment at their exclamations.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Gohan! I swear, you get blackmailed more than politicians do!" Bulma said, shaking her head. "Don't tell me it was the same girl doing it again?"

"No. It was a different one, this time," Gohan answered.

"Wait, you mean this has happened to him before?" Juuhachi-gou inquired.

"Yeah, he just got blackmailed the other day by some girl because he thought she knew he was the Great Saiyaman," Bulma replied. With a crooked a smile, she added, "When the real reason she did it, was because the girl had saw that he wore-"

"Bulma! Geez! Do you have to tell her that, too?"! Gohan yelled, managing to blush brighter than just had a few seconds ago.

Bulma giggled at the mortified looking teenager. "Oh, calm down. I was just teasing," she told him. Sobering, she asked, "So who exactly is blackjacking you this time?"

"Her name's Videl...Satan Videl," he answered, saying her whole name almost as an afterthought.

"Satan Videl?" Bulma repeated. She looked pensive. "Hmm. Hey, she wouldn't by chance be related to the World Martial Arts Champion, Mr. Satan, would she?"

"She's his daughter, actually."

"What!" Bulma wailed, surprised into momentary stupor. She gripped the wheel tighter than she was for a moment, as she tried to her brain around the sheer shock of hearing that the man who'd falsely took credit for the destruction of Cell had a kid. "I don't believe it! What woman in her right mind would want to get together with that lying jerk?" she asked disgustedly. "I really don't like that man. I still think he's horrible for getting acknowledged that he was the one who killed Cell, when it was really you!"

Gohan laughed. "Well, it's true, she is Mr. Satan's daughter. She's also the reason why I'm entering the tournament," Gohan said. "See, unlike Angela, Videl actually _knows _that I'm the Great Saiyaman."

"Well, I had warned you after you'd said that Angela girl knew about you to be more careful," Bulma said, suddenly sounding very motherly.

Gohan's shoulders slumped. "I know. But the only reason she found out was because I had to save a good animal friend of mine from back home, and showing her who I am was the only way she would let me do it," he said. "And I also got to teach her to fly, too. Man, I swear she's as bossy and stubborn as Kaasan is."

"What do you think Chichi will say about this?" Bulma asked.

"I don't know," Gohan sighed. "You know how she is about me getting my school work done. But I can't skip out on the tournament, or Videl will tell everyone who I am."

"Man, you have it rough," Bulma said, looking over at him pityingly.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Gohan agreed.

Throughout the rest of their conversation, Juuhachi-gou had been listening to them with growing interest. Honestly, she couldn't care less about Gohan's problems with girls, but what had intrigued her so was the Tenkaichi Budokai. Though she'd never really been to one in person, she still knew about them from the data Dr. Gero had given to her on Son Goku. She knew that he competed in three of the triennial tournaments in his youth, and during each of those times, her creator's bug spy had been there to gather data on his mortal enemy and as well as his friends. But the reason she was becoming interested in the tournament was because she knew they presented people in the top standings with prize money.

As much as she deeply appreciated the generosity of Bulma and her family, it had still always tore at her pride that she and her family had to depend on someone else's money just to get by. However, now it seems that she may have found a way to change that...

Soon, the trio had found themselves walking through the front door of Juuhachi-gou's house, each carrying grocery bags (though, with their more superior strengths, Juuhachi-gou and Gohan hauled in a lot more than Bulma). Not wanting to go home just yet and face his mother with the mess he'd gotten himself into this time, Gohan had decided to stick around help the women out. He also stuck around because he wanted to spend some time with Koji.

Though he had his little brother Goten, Gohan also thought of himself as a older brother for Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's only child. Whenever he could, Gohan always made time to come over and play with Koji whenever he could; sometimes he came by himself, then sometimes he would bring his younger brother Goten along with him. It was something that Juuhachi-gou was secretly grateful for. She had never once tried to approach Vegeta with the suggestion of them having another child so he could have someone to play with- mainly because she would feel pretty awkward trying to talk with Vegeta on the subject. Even though they had already known about their son, they hadn't actually planned on her getting pregnant in the first place, and she highly doubt that Vegeta would want to deliberately get her pregnant again, so she just never really bothered.

Just as the three were setting the groceries on the kitchen counter or the table, Koji walked in.

"Hi, Okaasan! Hi, Bulma-san! Hey, Gohan-san!" Koji greeted them, though he greeted Son Gohan with much more enthusiasm than he had his mother or Bulma.

"Hey, there, kiddo!" Gohan greeted him back. "How's it going?"

It was right then and there that the younger half-Saiyajin noticed the attire of his best friend's big brother. Gohan's Great Saiyaman costume didn't make such a good impression on the young prince as it had Goten when he showed it to him, as Koji scowled at it in bafflement, mixed in with a bit of disgust.

"Uh, Gohan-san? Where in the world did you get a outfit like that from?" he asked, reminding Gohan of how Koji's mother had asked him the same thing.

"Bulma-san here made it for me!" Gohan answered proudly. "Isn't it great? I can ask Bulma to make you one, too, if you like."

"No thanks!" Koji replied quickly, though politely. As much as he admired and respected Gohan, there some times when the younger boy thought the teenager could be a complete dork.

"You know, if Kaasan does agree to let me fight in the Tenkaichi Budokai, I'm gonna really have to back into the fighting trim," Gohan said suddenly. Looking embarrassed, he added, "I haven't really trained all that much since our fights with Cell and Kaosu."

"Oh, please, Gohan," Bulma said, laughing. "You could go without training for ten years and still be in the fighting trim. After you defeated Cell, there's no way that anyone else competing in the tournament could beat you."

"Oh, is that so? We'll just have to see about that, then."

Everyone looked up at the same time when they all heard the only-too-familiar boastful voice of the Saiyajin no Ouji. Vegeta strolled confidently into the room, barefooted, regarding everyone- though Gohan in particular- with his normal half-disdainful, half-amused expression.

"What are you talking about, Vegeta?" Juuhachi-gou asked. "There's no way a normal human can beat Gohan."

"Who said I was referring to a human beating him?" Vegeta countered. "I'm talking about yours truly, of course. If Kakarott's son here is competing in the tournament, then I think I will, too."

"Huh!" Gohan cried.

"Yosh'! Papa and Gohan are gonna fight!" Koji exclaimed excitedly. Knowing how incredibly powerful his father was, and from how he'd heard Gohan had once been stronger than his father and everyone else when they fought against that Cell person, the young hybrid was eagerly looking forward to watching his father and Gohan clashing.

However, Gohan wasn't so eager about Vegeta's announcement. He hadn't been kidding when told everyone about not seriously training during these past seven years of peace. Meanwhile, he knew the Saiyajin Prince had been training intensely inside the Gravity Room non-stop. Though he wouldn't consider Vegeta a pushover under any circumstance, he knew he was definitely going to have to get himself prepared if the older man was going to be entering the tournament.

Almost as if he knew how slightly uneasy Gohan felt about fighting him, Vegeta turned toward him and arrogantly added, "Years ago when you were kid, there was a huge gap between us in power. But while you've been living the easy life, I have been training day in and day out."

"Well, that makes up my mind," Juuhachi-gou suddenly said. Everyone looked at her. A ghost of a crooked smile quirked her lips. "If you're entering Vegeta, then so I am."

"What?" Vegeta replied, looking over at her in faint puzzlement and surprise.

"Cool! Mama's entering too!" Koji enthused.

"This is all of a sudden," Bulma said, mildly surprised.

Looking toward Gohan, Juuhachi-gou asked, "Hey, Gohan? How much money does the top fighters in the Budokai get?"

"Hm? Oh, let me see," Gohan said. He tilted his head slightly, doing some mental calculations. "Well, the five top competitors are awarded money. First place is awarded ten million zenni, five million zenni for the runner-up, and then it just goes down from there."

"I see," Juuhachi-gou replied, taking in what Gohan just said to her with a fascinated expression.

Nearby, Vegeta frowned disapprovingly at his mate. "So, that's why you're entering? Just to get the prize money?"

At the contemptous way he'd just spoken to her with, Juuhachi-gou shot the Ouji a cold look. "So? I have to think about getting money for our family, because you certainly don't!"

Vegeta's his habitual scowl deepened, but Juuhachi-gou wasn't intimidated by his expression in the least,. She matched him cold scowl for scowl. On the sidelines, while Koji, Bulma and Gohan observed the two nervously as they stared each other down, their wills battling almost audibly across the room. During that moment of tense silence, everyone abruptly heard something that they hadn't been expecting.

"Hey! Since you guys are entering the Tenkaichi Budokai, I'll enter, too!" announced a cheerful voice.

A communal cry of "huh!" rung through the kitchen after the group had been spoken to by a voice with no visible body for them to see. But there was really no need for most of them in the room to see the owner, as they would know that affable voice anywhere. The adults stared upward in surprise, while Koji looked completely bewildered.

"Who is that?" he wondered.

"D-dad? Is that really you?" Gohan asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, it's me! How's everyone been doing?" Goku replied. If the half-Saiyajin could've seen his father right now, he would've seen the happy smile that touched his lips from hearing the sound of his son's voice.

"Son-kun, this is a pleasant surprise!" said Bulma, very happy to hear her old friend's voice again.

"Oh, hi there, Bulma! I'm doing great!" Goku replied enthusiastically. "I've mostly just been training, though."

Bulma laughed a bit. "I'm not surprised by that. It's so like you."

Being more observant than others, it wasn't really all that surprising that Juuhachi-gou was the only one to notice a muscle visibly twitch in Vegeta's jaw in a manner of irritation, when Goku had mentioned he'd been training.

"Hey! Could you hurry it up, Goku!" an annoyed, second voice with no visible speaker boomed through the kitchen. "I am a Kaiou, not some telephone for you to play catch-up on old times with your family and friends. So, hurry and tell them why you called, already!"

"Heh, heh. Sorry," Goku sounded apologetic. "Anyhow, you guys. Like I was just saying, I'm gonna be returning to Earth on the day of the tournament and compete along with you!"

"That's great!" Gohan shouted gleefully.

"This is excellent," Vegeta agreed, grinning. "Prepare yourselves, everyone, I've become much stronger than before."

"Me too!" Goku replied. "So let's all meet at the Budokai."

On that note, the dead warrior's voice vanished from the room as unexpectedly as it had appeared, leaving most of the group momentarily bewildered.

"That's our Goku," Bulma sighed a moment later. "I can't believe he's coming back! Yamucha's going to be thrilled about this when I tell him. Gohan-san, you should let Kuririn-san and the others know about this as soon as possible."

"Right!" Gohan agreed, barely able to contain his excitement.

"This tournament is shaping up to be a pretty interesting now," Juuhachi-gou remarked.

"Oh, Vegeta, I just thought of something," Gohan said, looking over to the older man. "So you won't have to worry about people finding out about your identity, you should wear an outfit like mine."

"NO!" Vegeta snapped. "I wouldn't be caught dead in that!"

Moments later, Gohan was up in the air about to head off, and Juuhachi-gou, Koji, and Bulma stood outside. "I'll let the others know. Bye!"

"Bye, Gohan-san!" Koji shouted after him. "Don't be a stranger! In fact, come over tomorrow! Hey, bring Goten with you! And tell Goten I said hi, too!"

As Bulma chuckled at the young boy's enthusiastic shouts and Juuhachi-gou regarded him in faint amusement, they missed the pleased expression that had settled on Vegeta's face. Gohan wasn't the only one excited about Goku's return. Now that he knew Goku was entering, he was more interested than ever in participating in the Tenkaichi Budokai. After waiting patiently for years, another opportunity for him to face the younger Saiyajin had finally presented itself before him.

*_I knew something like this would happen some day,* _he thought, privately elated. *_That's why I've trained so rigorously for these last seven years, and now I'm finally going to get the chance to see if all my training has really paid off. Our paths are about to cross once again, Kakarott, and when they do...*_

His mouth quirked into a cruel smirk of his, finding himself envisioning a glorious rematch battle featuring himself and his dead rival. Only this time, things ended with him being the one left standing victoriously, and a battered and broken Goku kneeling down in submission before his prince.

* * *

For the next hour, and probably would be till the day the Tenkaichi Budokai started, Gohan was the embodiment of excitement. For a short while after he'd left Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's house, he'd raced through the air aimlessly, whooping in exhilaration, which had startled a passing flock of birds. But he couldn't help himself. His father was coming back! While he knew it was only just going to be for a day, it didn't really matter to him, because just getting the chance to see his father again after he'd been dead for almost a decade was enough for him. Plus, with his father's return, he no longer had to worry about his mother not allowing him to compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai. Speaking of his mother, he could just imagine how excited she was going to get when he told her that her husband would be returning. And also, Goten was going to finally meet their father in person and not just have to imagine how he was like from what Gohan's told him.

_*Heh. I bet dad seeing that he has another son who looks just like him will almost be as shocking as seeing Kuririn with hair,*_ he thought, amused.

Speaking of Kuririn, Gohan paid a visit to Kame House first. Knowing what good friends Kuririn and his father were, he'd thought the proper thing to do was to tell him the good news first. To say Kuririn was happy when Gohan told him about Goku coming back for a day to compete in the Budokai would be an understatement.

"What? You're kidding!" Kuririn was exclaiming in joy. "Goku's really coming back? That's great!"

"Goku's coming back? Terrific!" commented Muten Roshi where he sat in his beach chair, one of his favorite sukebe magazines resting in his lap. Not too far away, Unigame was happily nodding in agreement.

"Sure is!" Gohan acquiesced. "When he competes in the tournament, I'm going to be competing in the tournament as well. And so are Vegeta-san and Juuhachi-gou-san. Why don't you compete along with us, Kuririn?"

All the optimism almost instantly drained from Kuririn's face at Gohan's suggestion.

"Uh. I don't know, Gohan," he answered after a moment. But what he really wanted to say was, "Are you nuts? Me step into the ring with the likes of you Saiyajin and Juuhachi-gou? I wouldn't last five seconds with you guys! Even if I had kept training over the years!" Instead, however, he said, "I mean, I would love to compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai alongside your father. It'd be just like the good, old days when we were kids. But I've got a family now. I don't know if they'd want-"

"Don't you dare use your family as an excuse, Kuririn!" snapped a gruff, female voice from behind, causing Kuririn to cringe.

Turning with Gohan, Kuririn saw his fiery wife standing in the doorway of Kame House, and standing alongside her was their daughter, Hoshi. Just as her brother had done, over the years Amara had traded her Saiyajin armor in for more Earth-style clothing. She was currently attired in a black tank top, pants, and sandals.

"Hi, Gohan-san!" Hoshi greeted.

"Hey, there!"

"Enough, of that!" Amara snapped again, stepping off the porch to draw up in front of Kuririn and Gohan. She shot Kuririn a quick withering look, before snapping her gaze back on Gohan. "So, let me get this straight, Gohan. Your father Kakarott is returning to compete in this Tenkaichi Budokai, and you, Vegeta and as well as Juuhachi-gou will be competing in it?" .

"That's right," Gohan confirmed.

"Hm. Well, then," Amara replied, a crooked smile touching her lips as she seemed to have reached some kind of decision. "I'll be entering, too, and as will Kuririn," she added, shooting her mate a look when she wordlessly informed him that he was going to be competing in the tournament whether he wanted to or not. Kuririn's mouth had moved as if he would protest, but when the scowl on his wife's face deepened, the words fell petrified at the edge of his mouth.

"Oh. All right," he said resignedly. "I'll compete in the tournament."

"Don't worry, Papa," Hoshi said, trying to mollify his apparent worries of entering the competition. "You'll do great in the tournament. You're the strongest human around."

"Thanks, honey," Kuririn replied, ruffling her hair affectionately as he appreciated the sentiment. "Say Gohan," Kuririn whispered at the half-Saiyajin. "Do me a favor and don't tell Piccolo about the tournament. If he doesn't, then I'll have a better chance of at least making in the top six."

"Now you know I can't do that, Kuririn," Gohan replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I thought so," Kuririn sighed. "Anyway, why are you wearing that weird dress?"

"What are you talking about? This looks great," Gohan disagreed. "Don't you know what fashion is, Kuririn? You know, Amara, I told Vegeta this but you should wear one, too. That way the media won't find out who we are. Well, bye you guys!"

"I wouldn't be caught dead in that!" Amara shouted after Gohan as took off, shaking her right fist indignantly after him. Amara then took her mind off the foolish teenager and onto more important matters. _*So Juuhachi-gou's going to enter this tournament, too. This is just too good to be true. Now I finally have the stage to show Juuhachi-gou that I am the superior warrior now.* _Imperceptibly, a sinister smile slid across the princess's face.

Meanwhile, before Gohan had made his it to the final destination that was his home, he made a quick stop over to Tenka to inform its residents of the great news, too. Everyone there had been elated to hear of Goku's return, of course. Finally, after he wasn't able to find Tienshinhan, Gohan touched down on the front lawn of his house, and quickly rushed on inside. He gave his brother, who'd been watching cartoons in the living room, a brief greeting before making his way into the kitchen where he smelled his mother was preparing dinner. Hearing him come galloping into the kitchen, Chichi turned toward her son with a puzzled look mixed with concern.

"What's wrong, Gohan-chan?" Chichi asked. Although, from the strange excitement she could see shining in his dark eyes, she wondered the reason he came into the kitchen he did was because he smelled that she was cooking dinner.

"Okaasan, I've got good news!" Gohan blurted in a rush.

"Oh?" Chichi replied, tilting her head at her son in a curious manner. "Did you make an A on a report or something?"

"No-well, yeah, but my news is much greater than that," Gohan replied. "Guess what? Dad's coming home!"

"What!" Chichi exclaimed, not expecting that at all. For a moment, she had to steel herself against the kitchen counter as she feared she might faint from the shock of hearing that her husband was coming back. As soon as she recovered her composure, Chichi rushed over to eldest son and gripped him by the shoulders. "Are you sure? Are you really sure that Goku's coming back?"

"Yeah, Kaasan," Gohan said, getting the reaction from his mother that he'd expected to. "See, while I was over at Vegeta's and Juuhachi-gou's house, Dad spoke to us and said that he was coming back for one day to compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai."

"That's wonderful!" Chichi exclaimed. In her happy state, she pulled her eldest son in for a huge hug.

Drawn in by all the commotion, a curious looking Goten came into the kitchen. "Hey, what's going on in here?"

"Guess what, son?" Chichi replied as she released her other son, and then hugged Goten as well. "You're finally going to get to meet your father! Your daddy's coming home! Isn't it great?"

"He is?" Goten asked, after Chichi released him. Truthfully, the little boy didn't really know how to react to his mother's announcement. He knew he should be happy that he was finally going to meet his father for the first time, but he just didn't know how to feel about seeing a man he never even got to know.

"Oh, no!" Chichi wailed in sudden alarm.

"Dosh'tano, Kaasan?" Gohan asked worriedly.

"I was just thinking that when your father gets back, he might not find me attractive anymore," Chichi said forlornly, on the verge of working herself into a depression of what her husband would think of her when he got back. "I mean I've aged over the years, and dead people certainly don't get old!"

Gohan chuckled at his worried mother. "Hey, just relax, Mom. This is Dad we're talking about here," he reminded her, "you know he doesn't care about how you look."

That had done the trick, as Chichi almost instantly stopped her chatter and smiled warmly over at her son. "You're absolutely right, Goku never was that kind of man." Clasping her hands over her chest, with her heart in her eyes, she looked lovingly towards the ceiling, reflecting on her goofy, good-natured, wild husband.

A short distance away, Gohan couldn't help but to smile at the expression of pure joy on his mother's face. He could understand perfectly how she felt. Because in a few days, even if it was only for a short while, his father would be coming home.

* * *

There were very few things that did astound Kaiou of the North, and one of the things that would never cease to amaze him was watching Goku eat. Even now, him, Gregory, and Bubbles were watching in amazed stupor as Goku inhaled all of his lunch without bothering to chew like he always ate. Within the next few minutes, Goku had finished eating up all of his remaining fued, then he leaned back in his chair and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Ah, now that was delicious!" he said.

"So, are you through now, or would like tenths?" Kaiou asked dryly.

Goku laughed. "Thanks Old Man Kaiou, but no thanks. I'm so full right now, that I'd probably burst if I ate any more."

North Kaiou blinked at the Saiyajin, before he snorted with laughter.

"I swear, Goku, there's never a dull moment with you around," he said, causing Goku to flash him a big grin. The god then looked over at Gregory and Bubbles. "Hey, you two, he's done for right now. So, why don't you clear the table off and clean the dishes up for me."

"Sure thing, boss," Bubbles said dutifully. Beside him, Gregory grunted something similar and saluted Kaiou-sama.

"Man, I'm so stoked about returning back to Earth in a few days!" Goku said excitedly, while Gregory and Bubbles started taking the dirty dishes and depositing them inside the sink to be washed. "I wonder how much my family and friends have changed. Heh, I bet Gohan's about as tall as a tree right about now!"

"That's good and all, Goku, but when you go down to Earth there's something I want you to promise me," North Kaiou said, suddenly looking quite serious.

Goku looked at the god curiously. "Huh? And what's that?"

"Look, you must promise me that you will not-unless you find yourself in a hopeless, dire situation- use that new technique of yours."

Goku now looked confused. "But why can't I? I'd really like to show it to my family and friends."

"Because, that technique is too powerful," Kaiou explained. "Listen, now that you're dead, it takes energy for you to be roaming around in the physical realm. You may not notice it because you're in the afterlife, but that technique of yours really expends a lot of ki. If you try to do it while on Earth, not only would you be drained, it also shortens your time on Earth as well. Do you understand now?"

Goku briefly looked stricken, but he nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I understand. I promise I won't use the technique on Earth, unless I really need to."

"Good," Kaiou said with a satisfied expression.

"Besides, I don't think I'll need to use it anyway," Goku added. "All I'm going down there for is to participate in the tournament. Even though the main ones I'll have to be watching out for will be Vegeta and Gohan, I still think I won't need to use the technique." Then something occurred to the dead Saiyajin and he suddenly start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kaiou asked.

"Oh, it's nothin'," Goku answered. "I just suddenly realized that maybe it's for the best that I don't show everything I've learned here in the afterlife to my family and friends after all. If Vegeta ever knew about my trick, he'd go ballistic. Especially after all that non-stop training I know he's been doing while I was gone."

* * *

_*He's coming back.*_

Ever since he heard from his rival's own lips that he was returning, Vegeta hadn't been able to think about any else since then. And as he kept thinking about it, an unmistakable trill of a excitement, something that he hadn't felt in years, rushed up and down his spine. Yes, he was excited about Kakarott's return, but he wasn't excited about the other Saiyajin coming back in the same sense as Gohan, Bulma, and the rest of the younger Saiyan's family and friends were. No, his excitement stemmed from the sudden appearance of a grand opportunity to finally right a wrong that had been committed years ago.

For as long as he lived, and even after he'd truly left this world, Vegeta would never forget the day he lost to Kakarott. Even after all these years, his pride still stung with the embarrassment and humiliation of being humbled by a man that would be considered as a common peasant back on their home world. He was the Prince of all Saiyajin, he shouldn't have been beaten by a mere third-class Saiyajin warrior! But he had, no matter how hard it was for him to even admit that even to himself. Though, that wasn't even half of his long list of complaints against his rival.

Just thinking about all those things really made his blood boil and him hate the other Saiyajin just a whole lot more. It seemed like ever since their paths had crossed all those years ago, he was always having to play second fiddle to him, and he was sick and tired of it. When he died, he thought he'd never get the chance to avenge all those humiliations the younger man caused him, but miraculously the opportunity had finally come in the form of the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai. He wasn't going there to win the prize money like his mate was, he was going there to finally have that rematch he's been craving for so long and finally get his just deserved revenge against the other Saiyajin for dishonoring him.

One way or another, when Kakarott returns and before he leaves, they were going to fight. Even if his rival wanted to or not...

"Nnhh!"

That grunt snapped Vegeta out of his deep ruminations, and as his mind returned back to the here and now, he remembered that he wasn't training inside the Gravity Room alone, as he had also brought his son in to train with him. However, Koji seemed to be having difficulty moving around in the room.

"Don't overexert yourself, Koji," Vegeta told him. "It would be best if you left. 100x gravity is too much for you, apparently."

"I got a call last night from Goten" Koji replied. "He said he's gonna enter the tournament. I'm gonna enter, too!"

"You children actually think you can compete with the grownups?" Vegeta asked, smiling a bit smugly.

Not paying attention to his father just then, Koji suddenly comes to a halt. "This is too hard...Gotta turn Super Saiyajin."

"What!" Vegeta asked incredulously, after overhearing him.

Vegeta turned around in time to see his son's red hair rise off his head and shift to gold-white, a nimbus of golden fire exploding around his small body. Feeling a lot less heavier in his transformed state, the young Super Saiyajin bounced and flipped around the room, whooping in victory. All the while, Vegeta goggled at his son in sheer stupefaction.

No way! What he was seeing was just impossible! His six-year-old son was actually a Super Saiyajin?

His father continued to look on in bafflement. He just couldn't wrap his mind around his young son obtaining the power of the legendary warriors of his race. It was inconceivable, yet had actually happened right in front his eyes. Someone definitely had some explaining to do about this.

"Son, come here," he commanded. Koji obeyed him at once. "Tell me, how long have you've been able to turn into a Super Saiyajin?"

"Uh, for a while now."

"When did it happen?"

"Um..." Koji stared upward thoughtfully, trying to think back to when he first transformed. "Oh, yeah, I remember now. It had happened some time ago while you were gone..."

_Koji grunted as he hit the ground, bouncing once before he went skidding across the ground. Again. Sitting up, he stared in stubborn defiance at his opponent, who favored him with a smug smirk._

_"What happened to all that bravado of yours?" Juuhachi-gou asked. "I thought you said you would shock me? Unless, you're holding back on me because I'm your mother. If so, stop it, come at me with all you got." _

_Koji stood. "So, it really is okay if I don't hold back? I won't get in trouble later on?"_

_"You'll be in more trouble if you don't," Juuhachi-gou countered, drawing back into a fighting stance. "I don't like to be patronized, son." _

_"Okay, Mama," Koji said, grinning, clenching his fists. "Here I go!"_

_Momently, Juuhachi-gou witnessed something that defied her advance logic. Her son transformed into a Super Saiyajin! While she was still trying to wrap her mind around this, Koji charged at her with a battle-cry, flinging blows at her. Juuhachi-gou was on autopilot as the only thing she could do in her stunned state was block and dodge..._

"And why haven't you shown me this before now?" Vegeta wanted to know, annoyance clearly coloring his voice as he still having trouble believing any of this.

"Well, I wanted to, but Mama told me not to," he answered.

"Oh, so your mother is behind this, is she?" Vegeta said, frowning. He was definitely going to have to give his woman a talking to later on for keeping something as important as this from him. Then suddenly, something occurred to him and his frown deepened slightly more. "Tell me Koji, can Kakarott's youngest son and Amara's daughter transform as well?"

"Yeah."

"Hm. I see," Vegeta said, though half to Koji and half to himself. A thoughtful expression slipped onto his face. _*My word, this new generation is definitely something all right. None of them have even reach puberty yet and already they possess the powers of the super warriors of our race, and yet I had to work for almost all my life just to become a Super Saiyajin. And one of them is my own son.*_

Vegeta didn't know rather to be proud of that or to be angry about it.

"Tell me, how strong are Goten and Hoshi?" Vegeta suddenly asked.

"Even though Goten's a year older than me, I'm little stronger than both he and Hoshi," Koji answered, a hint of arrogance in his voice, "Goten's right behind me, and then there's Hoshi, but Goten's the only one of us who doesn't know how to fly or shoot ki blasts yet."

_"A prodigy just like me, huh? But only a little stronger?" _Vegeta mused, looking displeased. _"What's going on here!"_

Nodding to himself about something, Vegeta looked back at his offspring. "Son, attack me."

"Wha?" Koji replied, shocked by the command. "But dad, that's too hard. You're too strong for me."

"Look, if you can just get one hit off me, I'll..." Vegeta paused, searching his mind for something to bribe his son with. Then an idea came to him. "If you can hit me just once, then I'll take you to the amusement park for one whole hour."

"Wow! The amusement park! You really mean it?" Koji exclaimed.

Vegeta nodded. Now spurred on by the prospect of going to the amusement park, Koji immediately drew himself into a fighting pose.

"All right, boy. Come at me with everything you got," Vegeta ordered.

Koji quickly bolstered up all of his courage and charged at his father with a battle cry, his fist and feet swinging. Naturally, Vegeta dodged all of his son's blows at first. Yes, his son was very powerful and very fast for his young age, as he rightfully should be- Vegeta mused, but he was still just a child and lacked his experience, prowess, and strength. Then the unthinkable happened. Koji had suddenly slipped right through his father's defenses and caught him in the face with a glancing blow. For a brief moment, Vegeta stood in place, his eyes wide with disbelief. In the next instant, Vegeta let his notorious temper get the better of him, and he punched Koji right back in the face, _hard_, sending the young boy crashing to the floor.

It was when Koji sat up, his face slightly bruised and his eyes started to water, that Vegeta realized what he'd done.

"That's not fair!" Koji shouted accusingly, holding his face. "You hit back..."

"I never said I wouldn't," Vegeta countered. Vegeta knew he had better do something quick. Especially before Juuhachi-gou found out; she seemed to have this sixth sense let her know if something was wrong with their son, and might even be making her way to the gravity room now. If she knew about this, she'd go in a fine fit of rage over it, and right now he wasn't in the mood for that. "You're a man, aren't you? Men don't cry. Now get up to your feet, or do you want to go to the amusement park?"

That worked like a charm, for in the next moment, Koji had sucked it all back in and leaped to his feet, beaming with excitement.

"Wait, you really meant it? You mean you're still really going to take me?" he asked.

"Didn't I just say I would," Vegeta retorted, not liking repeating himself. "Now go clean yourself up, and then we can go."

"All right!" Koji whooped.

* * *

Back at Kame House, Kuririn, Amara, Muten Roshi, and Unigame were gawping in slack-jawed astonishment at Hoshi, who stood before them in Super Saiyajin form.

"So Papa, Mama, can I enter the tournament, too?" Hoshi asked sweetly. "Goten-kun called me last night and said he was, and I'm sure he's told Koji, too. So can I?"

Neither of her parents answered. They and everyone else was still staring at her as if she was some new form of species they were all just seeing for the first time.

* * *

Some time later, a fully-clothed Vegeta and Koji came downstairs and both walked past Juuhachi-gou, who was sitting on the couch with a open magazine resting across her lap, without saying a word. Juuhachi-gou looked up at the two in curiosity.

"And just where are you two off to?" she inquired.

"We're going out," Vegeta replied as he opened the door.

"Going out where?" she queried, failing at hiding her surprise over the fact that Vegeta actually wanted to take their son out somewhere like human fathers did for their sons.

"We're going to the amusement park!" Koji said excitedly in passing. "See you later, Mama!"

With that, father and son headed out the door and began their journey to the nearest amusement park. Juuhachi-gou stared at the closed door for a second more, before shrugging her shoulders and turning her attention back to the magazine she had reading. It was a moment later before the blonde-haired woman had realized what her son had said before he and Vegeta left, and an expression of pure shock crossed her features.

"The amusement park!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	16. The Tournament Begins

**Disclaimer: I have no property over Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, or the rest of the cast of the DB/Z world. I do own all original characters, however.**

**Chapter Sixteen: The Tournament Begins**

* * *

It was quiet on the ship. Nothing wrong with that- well, at least not to the man who was currently walking down one of the ship's many corridors. Actually, this person couldn't technically be called a man at all. He was much more than that. He wasn't even human. While most of his fellow crew members, even the Master, came from different galaxies in this universe, he originated from some place special. An evil, shadow dimension that exists as a flip side to this universe- the Demon Realm of Darkness. In that world, he was the most dominant and most powerful in every part of the universe. There, he was King.

Not even the Gods of that dimension could touch him.

Even if he couldn't frighten others just by the mere fact that he was the King of Demons, Dabura, his powerful, sinister looking form or the ever-present commanding, intimidating air surrounding him could help with that. And there was also the ferocious power he wielded. But despite those things, he was no longer the master. He was now mastered by another: Madoshi Babidi. As prideful a warrior as Dabura was, he would have never allowed such a thing to take place in the past. In fact, the person who'd been foolish enough to think that they could control him in the first place would instantly be met with a ugly, agonizingly slow and painful demise.

Babidi was different, however. Though he was far stronger than the mage as far as raw, physical strength and power were concerned, it was Babidi's potent magic that made the demonic warrior agree to bow down before him in subservience for how ever long that he could. It had been through Babidi's sorcery that his own power had been able to exceed to levels he never thought possible. So that's why he now served Babidi with complete obedience and loyalty, and if anyone ever tried to oppose his lord...Dabura's mouth curled into a devilish grin, showing a glimpse of his wickedly carved fangs as he thought of all the horrible things he would do to anyone that stupid.

He finally came to a stop at the end of the hallway, drawing up in front of an odd-looking lift of sorts. It was white in color, with an M tattooed on the center of the elevator's door- a larger version than the M that had been placed on his own forehead after he was transformed into one of Babidi's Majin warriors. The door slid upward with a metallic whine, allowing the demon entrance, sliding right back down once he was fully inside. Dabura was soon on his way downward, heading towards the lowest stage of the ship where he knew his master would be at. His ride had come to a halt as he reached his stop momently. As soon as the door reopened for him, the demon stepped out and entered a new room.

It was an enormous room, though mostly bare and empty. Other than his own, the only signs of life inside the room was the diminutive figure standing on the far side, gazing worshipfully up at a large, purple ball that was perched on a dais, emitting a dull, hum-like sound, glowing with its own light; on and off, on and off. Dabura wasn't all that surprised to find Babidi standing in front of it, as he'd been doing it ever since they had discovered it deep within the core of planet Earth. It was pretty understandable to the demon that his master would want to linger around the thing, as Babidi had been searching for it for a very long time. Even before he himself had joined up with the warlock.

From what his lord had told him a countless number of times, inside the ball rested a creature of unimaginable power. It was said to be a power that was far, far greater than his own. Naturally, though, Dabura secretly didn't believe that, no matter how loyal he was to Babidi. Though he wasn't in his realm anymore, Dabura believed he was the strongest without fail in any dimension, even before Babidi increased his power. No one could possibly be as powerful as he was at that point in his existence. Well, he would only believe that once he saw it with his own eyes. Until then, he would keep his opinion to himself, mostly out of fear that Babidi might take umbrage to him speaking of the creature in a disdainful manner and punish him. He may possessed the physical power to kill Babidi effortlessly, but Babidi's sorcery was something that even he wouldn't dare defy.

Sensing Dabura's presence in the room at last, Babidi glanced up at the demonic warrior over his shoulder.

"Oh, it's you Dabura," the Madoshi said in an indifferent tone. "I hadn't even noticed you were standing there."

"So, how is our guest of honor doing, my sire?" Dabura asked, drawing himself up in front of the ball beside his master.

"Unfortunately, not good," Babidi replied, frowning down at a meter of alien origin with a M at the very top of it that wasn't even halfway full yet. "What we've gathered so far isn't even close to what we need in order to resurrect Majin Buu."

"I see what you mean," Dabura agreed, glancing down at the meter as well. "But there's no need to worry, Master Babidi, because the people of this planet will be able to help us with that. Humans may be fragile creatures, but their energies will be sufficient in aiding us in the revival of Majin Buu."

"Yes, but I'm worried that the energy gathering might take too long," Babidi said. "I really want Majin Buu to be revived before this week is out. Especially before that meddling insect, Kaioushin, comes to try and foil my plans- and you know he's coming!"

A nasty smile curved Dabura's mouth as he replied, "Fear not, Babidi-sama. You know I would never allow Kaioushin to harm you. I'd kill him before he could even get a hairsbreadth of you."

Babidi chuckled. "Well, I don't doubt that you could kill Kaioushin, Dabura, but I'd really prefer if that honor was mine." His expression contorted in cold hate. "After all, it would only be fair that I be the one to destroy him, considering he'd had done the same thing to my father a long time ago!" A horrible grin split his face in half as he added, "Still, before I kill him, I would love to have Majin Buu resurrected before then. Just so I can rub the fact in his face that all the years he's spent trying to stop me from reviving Buu has been meaningless!" Babidi barked with fiendish laughter at that thought. "Though first we need to find a quicker means to gathering the ki. Damn it all! Why couldn't these earthlings just be located in one huge place? It would make extracting the energy from them for Majin Buu so much easier!"

"Maybe that can be arranged, Lord Babidi," a new voice had drifted into the room, right over the noise of the elevator door opening.

Already knowing who they would see over there, Babidi and Dabura looked around casually, their eyes locking on the grinning sleek, purple and white character stepping out of the elevator into the room with them. Like Dabura, a M was stamped on his forehead, giving him a sinister look along with those pupiless, yellow eyes he possessed, and that malicious grin splitting his hideous face.

"And just what do you mean by that, Pui Pui?" Babidi inquired curiously.

Before responding, the ailen known as Pui Pui gave both the mage and demon his accustomed bow of respect. "What I mean is, my lord," he began, "after doing some scouting on this planet, I discovered that there will be a chance for you to steal the energy of the human beings in one huge place."

Babidi's expression lit up at the news. "Really? When?"

"It'll be in a few days from now, Babidi-sama," Pui Pui answered. "See, a vast amount of the humans will be attending some kind of spectacle known as the Tenkaichi Budokai. It's a huge fighting tournament that's very popular on this planet. That will be our chance to gather up enough energy for Lord Buu."

Babidi let out a cry of excitement at that announcement. This opportunity was exactly what he'd been waiting to appear before him!

"Why, this is excellent! Good job, Pui Pui!" he praised his minion. "With so many people sitting in one place, surely we could gather up ample amounts of energy for Majin Buu!"

Dabura smirked at his master in his excited state. Then he asked, "So, which one of us would you like to go to this Tenkaichi Budokai and get the energy?"

"How about us?" asked a new, brusque voice.

The trio immediately looked around in the source where the voice originated. In a darkened corner of the other side, where neither Dabura nor Pui Pui noticed when they came into the room, something stirred. It was two of them, actually. They stepped out of the shadows and into the lit part of the room for everyone to see them. Babidi grinned at them in malicious approval.

"Yes, you two are just perfect for the job," he said.

* * *

Ever since Goku had given the word that he would be returning to Chikyuu to compete in the upcoming Tenkaichi Budokai, all of the Z-Senshi (who Gohan had been able to get contact with to relay the news of his father's imminent return) had decided to enter for one reason or another. Whether the reason is simply wanting to settle old scores with individual rivals, or just to compete for the prize money, or just wanting to compete alongside a old friend- they were all going to enter. And in their own ways, everyone prepared themselves for the battles that were to come.

Vegeta and his son prepared themselves for the approaching tournament inside the Gravity Room. Juuhachi-gou had even joined in a couple of times.

Gohan and Goten continued to train together in a place not too far from where their house was. The training had proven beneficial to them both, as Gohan was able to knock off his rust from all the slacking he had been doing since after the battle with Kaosu. At the same time, sparring with his older brother toughened Goten even more, and he was also finally taught how to fly and fire ki blasts like Koji and Hoshi could.

Piccolo trained alone up at the Lookout. His method of training for the tournament was meditation. For hours on end he would hover cross-legged in the air, arms folded and eyes closed, thrumming his veins for new sources of strength. His only two bystanders, Dende and Mr. Popo, watched in awe as they felt his ki rise incredibly by the second.

Amara trained with her daughter, Hoshi, on an island not all that far from the island where Kame House was. Confidentially, it still bothered her that at five-year-old, her daughter (and also the sons of Vegeta's and Kakarott's from what Hoshi had told her) was able to reach that stage power, while it took her nearly all her life just to reach it. It really annoyed her when she found that both Koji and Goten were stronger than her, when she asked her daughter who was the strongest out of the three. The Saiyajin no Oujo couldn't settle for her offspring to be weaker than the child of her rival and brother or the child low-class Saiyajin, which was why she had really put her daughter through the paces. Meanwhile, Kuririn mostly trained alone out back behind Kame House, telling his mate and daughter that it might be best as he didn't want to disturb the dynamics of two Saiyajin training, though privately he'd said that because he'd worried about getting himself hurt if he trained with them. But Amara still made time to make sure he was completely whipped into shape before the big event came.

And faraway, the guest of honor for that big day, was also gearing up. It was going to be nice to compete in a World Tournament again, and as well as seeing his family and friends.

But little did they all know, in spite of all their preparation, it still wouldn't prepare any of them for what would await them all when the day of the tournament did arrive...

* * *

A month later, it dawned brilliantly that Wednsday on May 8th. The trend of beautiful, sunshiny days with clear blue skies had continued. With the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai opening today, it was only fitting that the better be nice. Most people awoke early for the sole reason of attending the spectacle, whether they were participants coming to test their skill and strengths against other fellow martial artists, or mere spectators coming to watch the fights and have a good time.

One of the many planes that was heading towards the Papaya Islands was a large, yellow one, with the Capsule Corp. logo stamped on its side. Inside, Bulma sat at the wheel steering the plane; beside her in the passenger seat sat Yamucha, who was holding their daughter. Sitting in the back of the plane were most of the Z-Senshi and their family and friends.

"So, Gohan-chan, Goku will be meeting us at the tournament?" Chichi asked a bit anxiously.

"That's right, Mom," Gohan assured her, while adjusting his shades on his face. "Don't worry, if Dad says he'll be here, then he'll be here."

"Man, I can't wait, to see Goku again!" Kuririn said gleefully. "It's going to be just like the old days."

"Yeah, but I bet he'll hardly recognize you now that you have hair on your head," Gohan said. He laughed at that, and Kuririn joined in with him, both thinking about the old days when it looked as if Kuririn would be eternally bald.

Then Gohan's expression turned serious as something occurred to him. "Oh, by the way, Vegeta and Amara, I was thinking that it would be a good idea if none of us transformed into Super Saiyajin at the tournament today." Looking back at the trio of half-Saiyajin sitting in the back together, he added, "And the same thing goes for you three- Goten, Koji, and Hoshi."

"What?" Vegeta and Amara shouted together.

"Aw, man!" the three half-Saiyajin groaned in disappointment at the same time.

"And just why not?" Vegeta demanded irritably.

"Oh, I see," Bulma said, understanding what Gohan was getting at. "If people were to see you guys transform, then they would recognize you from the group who participated in the Cell Games."

"That has nothing to do with me," Amara said uncompromisingly.

Ignoring her, Bulma continued. "If the world finds out about you guys, news reporters would be coming from all over the place, trampling all over your yard. Something like that could make you go crazy."

"Yeah, and I don't want the kids at school calling me a freak or something," Gohan added.

"Well, I don't see what the problem is," Vegeta said brusquely. "They step on my lawn, I'll just kill them."

"Easy for you say, I'll be the one who has clean up the mess you make as usual," said Juuhachi-gou.

Vegeta glared at his woman.

"Please, Vegeta-san and Amara-san, could do this one favor for me?" Gohan implored. "It'll only be for one day. Besides, you two have been training non-stop over the years, so you probably won't have to go Super Saiyajin, anway."

There was a moment of consideration.

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Vegeta said, grinning smugly to himself. "I'll still win the tournament."

"I wouldn't brag so prematurely if I were you," Amara replied. "You aren't the only one here who doesn't need the Super Saiyajin transformation to win."

"We're okay with it, too," Koji said, with both Goten and Hoshi nodding in agreement.

"Thanks, everyone," Gohan said gratefully.

"Hey, Yamucha, how come you aren't entering?" Roshi inquired.

"Aa. Well, after the Cell Games I just really stopped training completely," Yamucha confessed, laughing and blushing a bit in embarrassment; while at the same time, he was trying to stop Bra from pulling too hard on his expensive necklace. "If I were to enter the tournament today, I'm more likely to completely embarrass myself."

"Hey, you guys! We're here!" Gyuu Mao abruptly announced, sounding excited as someone of the ages of Koji, Hoshi, and Goten would be.

Sure enough, the capsule plane was getting closer and closer to the island. Within minutes, they had made it, and after finding a spot large enough to land the plane in, Bulma did just that. She barely turned the plane off good enough when Koji, Goten, and Hoshi leaped out of their seats and ran to the door, opened it and dashed off the ship.

"Well, they sure are eager, aren't they?" Bulma commented, looking amused.

Soon, everyone else began to make their way off the plane. Once everyone was outside, Bulma encapsulated the plane, and handed it over to Yamucha for him to put in his pocket. With that, the gang were off.

"Where do you suppose Goku-sa is?" Chichi wondered, looking high and low for her husband, as they headed for the registration line, wading through the growing crowds of people.

"Is that him?" The Ox King asked, pointing up ahead towards a group of cheering fans, who were surrounding a red plane.

"No, that's not Dad's way," Gohan replied with certainty. "When he shows up, he'll likely be using Shuken Idou."

"But I guess I can bet who it is," Kuririn said, looking annoyed about something. His expression hardened when his suspicion had been confirmed. When the door to the mysterious red plane had opened, out came a bushy-haired, blue-eyed man wearing the Budokai Championship belt around his waist; and following him out the plane was a cute, blue-eyed girl with short, dark hair.

"Yelp, I was right. It's the man who saved us from Cell...Mr. Satan," the ex-monk said mockingly.

"Ugh! Don't remind me!" Chichi said bitterly. She had never gotten over the fact that he got all the credit and money for defeating Cell, when it had been her baby Gohan who'd destroyed that monster.

"So, who's that girl with him?" Kuririn asked, whistling appreciatively. He missed the narrow look Amara gave him.

"Oh, that's just big brother's girlfriend, Vide-" Goten started blurting out, but his brother quickly covered his mouth with his hands.

"Goten, what are you saying?" Gohan admonished, blushing from embarrassment.

"Gohan's girlfriend?" Kuririn repeated. He then looked at the teenager with a sly look on his face. "Why, Gohan, you old dog you! Since when have you gotten into girls?"

"No, I'm not! I mean I am!-No, I mean- she's just a friend, all right!" Gohan protested, releasing Goten to wave his hands in denial. "That's Videl. She's Mr. Satan's daughter."

"What?" a few people in the group said together in equal shock.

"That jerk actually has a kid?" Yamucha asked incredulously, his daughter Bra clinging to him and giggling as if she'd just understood what he'd just said. "I wonder who the mother is?"

"I guess that's another mystery we will have to solve."

Everyone turned at the same time, when a familiar gruff voice reached their ears. Standing under a palm tree, swallowed up in the shade it provided, was none of than the former Demon King and Kami of Earth himself.

"It's Piccolo-san!" Goten said cheerily.

Seeing his longtime alien friend and mentor, Gohan had started to run over to greet him, but paused in his tracks when a familiar orange and blue blur shimmered into existence before him. Taken by surprise, Gohan yelped and fell backwards on his backside. When he looked up, he gaped when he found a very recognizable face grinning down at him.

"T-t-Tousan!" he stammered.

Goku smile affably down at the fallen Great Saiyaman. "Gohan! Is that you down there? Wow, you've grown into a giant!" he said, a proud gleam twinkling in his eyes as he reached out a hand to help his son back up to his feet.

"Man, I can't believe you're actually here, Dad!" Gohan said excitedly. If he hadn't been wearing his glasses at the moment, everyone would've seen the moisture beginning to shimmer in his eyes.

"Go...ku?" Chichi stammered out, tears began to prick at the back of her eyes. Dende she'd missed him.

Looking over at his wife and everyone else, Goku flashed him that goofy grin of his. "Hey, guys!"

Instantly everyone, well, except for Vegeta and his family, as well as Amara and Hoshi, rushed over to go greet the dead warrior.

"Oh, Goku! I've missed you so much!" Chichi sobbed as she lunged towards her husband and wrapped him up in a hug. Goku clumsily patted his wife on the back in return.

"It really is good to see you again, Son-kun," Bulma said, feeling a bit teary-eyed herself.

"It's nice to see you, too, Bulma." Goku blinked in dawning wonder, when he finally noticed what could only be described as a miniature version of his long-friend being held by Yamucha, blinking up at him with curious blue eyes. "Hey, is that you and Yamucha's little girl?"

"Mm-hm. Her name's Bra," Yamucha said, his chest puffing with pride. "She was born just last year."

"Come on, Bra-chan. Say hi to your ojisan Goku." Little Bra giggled, as her mother waved her tiny hand in greeting towards Goku.

It was just when Chichi had finally released him, that Goku noticed something rather interesting. He saw a little boy with his face and hair staring at him half-curiously and half-nervously from behind his wife's legs. But as soon as saw Goku looking back at him, Goten quickly pulled his face from view.

"Um, Chichi? Why is there a mini me standing behind you?" he inquired, looking bemused.

Chichi smiled warmly at her husband. He was still clueless as usual; she wasn't all that surprised that he hadn't realized he'd gotten her pregnant before he died.

"Goku, I want you to meet your son, Goten," she said. "Goten, honey, come out and meet your father."

From where she stood beside her daughter, Amara gave Goku an evaluating look. It was still hard for to believe that this man was the same Saiyajin child who had been born with the lowest power level she had ever seen...the same child who slipped passed both Furiiza and Kura and escaped death with countless of other Saiyajin. At the moment, he didn't really seem like much, actually he seemed quite stupid. But she reminded herself that this was the same Saiyajin who killed King Cold and his sons, and thought that maybe her opinion might have to change once the fights started.

When Goten hadn't immediately come from out of his hiding place behind her legs, Chichi switched positions with him so that he was standing in front of his father. Gently, she gave him an encouraging nudge forward. Seeing that there was no more place to hide, Goten swallowed, bolstered up his courage, and walked forward, slowly and nervously. Goku bent over to look at him more closely; it was like staring into a mirror as he inspected the half-Saiyajin boy.

His son.

After a long moment, Goku broke the silence between them.

"Hiya," he greeted good-naturedly.

Goten blinked at Goku several times. Then he broke out in a big smile.

"Tousan!" Goten cried and lunged at his father, wrapping his arms around his neck. Goku hugged his son back, embracing the child he'd left behind and never got to knew.

The tender family moment was abruptly ruined by an 'ahem'. Looking around, Goku saw that it was only the fortune teller Urani Baba, sitting on her wonted crystal ball as usual.

"Now remember this, Goku," she said gravely. "You only just have twenty-four hours here in the mortal world, and once they're up, you will return back to Other World. So, my advice to you is to use your time wisely here, because you probably won't ever get this opportunity again anytime soon."

"Don't worry, I will," Goku assured her.

With her warning delivered, Urani Baba was gone, speeding away on her large crystal ball.

"Hey, I think you guys should get going over to the registration line," Bulma suggested. "I'd hate for it to close on you."

"_Gambette yo_! Goku-sa, Gohan-chan, and Goten-chan, I'll be rooting for you all!" Chichi told her family.

"Bye! We'll see you all later," Goku said, waving to his family and friends, as he and the other Warriors, who were going to be competing in the tournament as well, walked away.

A short navigation through the crowd brought the Warriors to the registration desk, where two attendants sat, eagerly waiting to get someone else signed up for the tournament. However, it was upon Koji's time to get signed up, that due to his young age, he, Goten, and Hoshi would have to compete in the Junior Division of the Budokai. That news did not set well for three-half Saiyajin.

"What do you mean we have to fight in the Junior Division?" Koji demanded, scowling petulantly at the old man. "We want to fight with the grown-ups!"

"Yeah, fighting with the other kids will be boring!" Hoshi griped.

"Could you please let us fight with the grown-ups, mister?" Goten asked with politeness that the young Saiyajin Prince and Princess didn't have at the moment. Then again, Goten had always been a lot politer than his friends.

"Sorry, but those are the rules," one of the men told them unwaveringly. "We don't allow children to fight with the adults anymore."

"Hey, look! Either let us fight in the Adult Dvision or I'll-"

Koji discontinued his threat, when he heard a familiar, low, feminine growl behind him. Looking around, he cringed slightly when he found his mother glaring frostily at him. Telling him with her eyes, that he either had the choice of competing in the Junior Division or go taking a seat in the audience.

"Um, uh, on second thought..." Koji said, smiling sheepishly as he turned back to the two attendants. "Fighting in the Junior Division doesn't sound like such a bad idea."

"Well, all right. I'll compete in the Junior Division," Hoshi relented. Well, at least she knew by competing in the Junior Division that she had a pretty good chance at making to the finals.

Seeing that his two best friends had just agreed to fight in the Junior Division, it was only inevitable that Goten did the same, too. Pretty soon, the rest of the Z-Senshi had reached the registration desk, giving their names to the attendants, and were ushered on inside the arena after their names had been added to already long list.

Goku laughed merrily as he walked between his best friend and his oldest son, catching up on the good old times. It felt really good to be back with the people he loved. He'd been really surprised to find out that Chichi had gave birth to another child while he'd been gone, and that the child looked a whole lot like him. Though, what had managed to top that surprise had been coming back and discovering that Kuririn had hair. His friend had always been bald since as long as Goku had known him.

"Oi, Kuririn, I've been meaning to ask you: what's with the hair?" he asked. "I thought you were naturally bald?"

"Not really. I just kept it shaved," Kuririn answered. "I thought I told you that."

"Why'd you stop, then?" Goku asked, stopping, looking at his friend in confusion. "I mean, you just don't look like Kuririn anymore."

Blushing slightly, Kuririn pointed towards his reason for having a head full of hair. Goku followed his friend's finger, and saw that he'd been pointing at an unfamiliar woman walking ahead of them.

"Who's she? I've never seen her before?" Goku wondered, scratching the back of his head.

"That's Amara, she's my wife," Kuririn said bashfully. "She's a Saiyajin- the Saiyajin Princess, in fact. She's Vegeta's sister."

"WHAT!" Goku blurted in dumbfoundment. "Th-that's Vegeta's sister? You mean you actually live in the same house as her?"

"I guess he really is an idiot," Amara remarked to herself, as she'd been listening in on the conversation.

"Well, she's not all that bad, Goku," Kuririn said, a bit reproachfully. "She and I even had a kid together."

"For real?"

"Yeah, a daughter. She's up there with Goten and Koji, see?" Kuririn directed Goku's eyes to the front again, this time past his wife, where Hoshi was walking between the two half-Saiyajin boys.

"Sugoi! I can't believe that you're a father, Kuririn," he said. "Congratulations, buddy!".

"Arigatou."

"Man, it's kind of hard to believe that Vegeta has a sister," said Goku. "I thought there had been no more Saiyajin from Vegetasei left alive, other than me and Vegeta."

"Yeah, well, we didn't know about her either until seven years ago," Gohan explained. " It was a week after you died, when she appeared out of the blue wanting a fight with Juuhachi-gou for what Juu-san had done to her."

"Well, that's no surprise to me that she's tough," said Goku. "She is apart of Vegeta's family after all."

It was then and there, that Goku looked over at the Prince, and saw him walking alongside a pretty woman with blonde hair. It was a minute later, when Goku realized just exactly who the woman was, and cringed.

"Oh no! Everyone, watch out, it's Juuhachi-gou!" he called out in alarm. "Someone please tell me she's not still terrorizing the planet."

Upon hearing him, Juuhachi-gou stopped and looked back at the man she was created to kill disdainfully.

"You just noticed I was here? Juuhachi-gou asked. "Idiot." She then turned back around and walked off, ignoring Goku's wide-eyed stare.

"Dad, calm down, would ya'?" Gohan said, sounding amused as he tried to alleviate his father's obvious fears of the cyborg trying to kill him. "You don't have to worry. Juuhachi-gou is on our side now."

"She is? Since when?"

"Since after Gohan freed her from Cell," Kuririn answered. "Don't tell me you've forgotten about Juuhachi-gou. She's Mirai Koji's mother, and Vegeta was his father; they were meant to get together. You were the first person Mirai Koi told, remember?"

Goku thought about that for a while. "Ohhh, yeah! Now I remember; I guess I forgot."

"It figures," Kuririn said dryly.

"Where is Koji?" Goku asked.

"There he is up there on the other side of Hoshi," Gohan informed him.

Goku glanced over at the red-haired boy, walking between his best friend's daughter and his own youngest son, carrying a bag over his shoulder. The dead Saiyajin's eyes grew wide from amazement once more. It was hard to believe that the brave, young warrior that come from a future where his mother and uncle had terrorized the planet and its inhabitants was actually standing before him as a kid.

"You know, it's a good thing I'm dead," he said abruptly.

"Why is that, dad?" Gohan inquired.

"With all these surprises I've been getting, I might've died from a heart attack by now," Goku answered, laughing. Kuririn and Gohan couldn't help but to share a hearty laugh with the dead Saiyajin.

While Goku had decided to change the subject, he had no idea that he was being critically scrutinized by a certain young prince. For as long as he could remember, Koji had always wanted to see his best friend's dead father in person. He'd always been hearing people saying how tough this Goku person had been during his lifetime, and had even went so far as to say he was stronger than his own dad; which was something the six-year-old found both laughable and unbelievable. In his eyes, no one was tougher than his father.

He had even asked his father about how Goten's father was. His father (who he referred to as Kakarott) had responded that Goten's father was a third-class, sentimental, idiotic weakling that didn't even deserve to breathe the same air as he did. However, when he'd opted to ask his mother if she'd known this mysterious Saiyajin, she'd told him that she didn't know him personally, but knew that he was a dangerous person. And now that he was finally staring in the face of Goten's father, Koji was starting to think that his mother had been wrong and his father had been right. Of course, he wouldn't tell his mother that. His mother may have not been a Saiyajin, but she sure could be as scary as one when he made her mad and, not to mention, just as tough.

"Wow, Goten! I can't believe how much you and your dad look alike," Hoshi said, staring back and forth from her friend to his father, and back again.

"You think so?" Goten said, blushing a bit at being told he resembled his father.

"Yeah, well, I sure don't think he's as tough as everyone's been making him out to be," Koji remarked, voicing his thoughts, as he gave Goku a brisk look. "I bet my father could beat him no sweat."

"But Oniichan said that Tousan was the strongest fighter in the whole universe!" Goten argued defensively.

"Papa says the same thing about him!" Hoshi agreed.

Koji snorted at the two, but decided to stay quiet for a change. He didn't care what either of them said, that silly man could never be stronger than his father. Never.

* * *

A short time later, Juuhachi-gou had found herself standing in the middle of a dark tunnel by her lonesome. Her husband, her son, and the others were in the dressing rooms changing into their fighting attires; she'd been _wise _enough to put on her her fighting clothes before she had left home.

The sound of a child's laughter suddenly caught her attention, reminding her that she wasn't _exactly _alone in the tunnel. The blonde woman looked askance, spying Goku and Goten standing on the other end of the passage, trying to have a little father and son moment before all the fighting started. In spite of herself, Juuhachi-gou found herself actually smiling a bit when Goku picked Goten up and threw him up into the air and caught him on the way down, doing it over and over again, with Goten laughing joyfully.

Juuhachi-gou then sat her mouth back into a thin line and shook her head; family life really had made her soft.

After all that searching for Goku her, Juunana-gou, and Juuroku-gou had done seven years ago after they were reactivated, and before Cell had showed up, had done, it was rather strange to have Goku finally standing in person right in front of her and not follow the main objective Dr. Gero had given her, which was to destroy the Saiyajin on sight. Though, that could be because she'd stopped following Dr. Gero's orders way before her and her brother had finally decided to get rid of him.

It was also funny how while she should despise this man, at the same time she actually owed him. A part of her hated him because if it hadn't been for Gero's everlasting hatred for him, spawned from the Red Ribbon Army being destroyed at Goku's hands, Gero never would've taken her and her brother's humanity away. She couldn't even remember what life had been life before the maddened doctor had found her.

But another part her also thanked him for it; thanks to him, she now no longer had to worry about what humans had to worry about such as growing old or hunger. And had it not been for him, she might've never gotten the family she has today, which she was rather very fond of. Even in spite of the fact that her significant other nearly drove her crazy most of the time.

Juuhachi-gou looked up when she heard several people approaching approaching. Coming down the tunnel was Amara, donned in her old Saiyan armor, though a couple of alterations have made to it. Her armor had been turned into a halter-top, overlaying a black sports bra, black finger-less gloves covered her hands, and black gi pants tucked inside her old Saiyan boots she was wearing; beside her was her daughter, dressed in the same gi outfit her father and her father best friend used to wear/still wore. Vegeta was right behind her, dressed for combat as well. He was followed closely behind him was their son, dressed in a light grey gi outfit, which was held together by an orange sash. And bringing up the rear was Gohan and Kuririn, who had exchanged his normal clothes for a red shirt and beige gi pants, laughing and chatting with one another.

Sensing the others, Goku and Goten turned to look at them.

"Oh, hi guys," Goku said.

"You two sure seem to be having a lot of fun," Gohan commented.

"Oh, Goten and I were just having some playtime," his father replied, affectionately tousling his son's hair. Standing straight, he added, "C'mon, let's get going you guys. Piccolo's already outside waiting for us."

They all followed the Saiyajin down the rest of the tunnel. Soon enough, they all stepped back out into the outside world. Numerous people were already there, stretching and talking and doing other stuff. And one of the potential participants already there was a certain Namekseijin, who had been standing on a wall by himself, though upon noticing the others had arrived, had went to go join them. They were all standing in the area where it would be determined if they would qualify for a spot in today's tournament.

"Man, Goku, I can't believe how long it's been since we last competed the Tenkaichai Budoaki," Kuririn said, smiling nostalgically.

"I know what you mean, Kuririn," Goku said, while scanning through the crowds. "Boy a lot of people sure did show up for today."

Behind them, both Vegeta and Amara regarded all the people with nothing short of cold disdain.

"These people are going to be our so-called competition for today?" Amara asked scornfully. "Pitiful."

"Hmph. I agree," Vegeta said. "I say we wipe out all these weaklings right now."

"Oi, easy, you two," Goku said. "Plus, I think you'd get in trouble with the officials if you were to do that."

Just then, amongst the throng of people, a blonde-haired man wearing a pair of dark shades was turning his head this way and that, as if looking for something in particular. Abruptly, his eyes happened to fall upon Goku and Kuririn, and instantly brightened.

"It's them! It's really them!" he said excitedly. Then, speaking louder, as he started trotting towards them, "Hey, Goku-san! Kuririn-san!"

"Huh?" Goku and Kuririn chorused, looking around in unison upon hearing someone call their names. They immediately broke out in grins upon seeing an all-too familiar face approaching.

"Hey!" Goku greeted as soon as the man drew up in front of him and Kuririn.

"Long-time no see!" Kuririn added.

"Oi, Goku-san, Kuririn-san! It's so good to see you two again-and love the hair, Kuririn!" said the Tenkaichi Budokai Announcer. Leaning in closer, he whispered to them, "Between you and me, you guys couldn't have come back at a better time. Ever since you guys stopped participating in the tournaments, they've been b-o-r-i-n-g with a capital B!"

Goku and Kuririn laughed.

"And hey, tell me, it wasn't Mr. Satan who defeated Cell seven years ago. It was you guys wasn't it?"

"Weellll..."

"Yeah! I knew it!" the Announcer said knowingly. "I knew Mr. Satan couldn't have been able to beat Cell if none you guys couldn't." As he looked around, the Announcer's gaze suddenly fell on a familiar green warrior dressed he white that he remembered all-too well. "Oi, hey there, Piccolo. Say, could you try not to destroy the ring this time? It cost us a lot just to have to repair it."

Piccolo smirked back at the man. "I'll try, but I can't make any promises."

The Budokai Announcer only laughed, though at the same time he took those words very seriously.

"Well, anyway, you guys, good luck today in the tournament," he told them. "I'm hoping for some good fights now, you hear?" On that note, the Announcer turned on his heel and took his leave.

"Attention!" an elderly Budokai attendant said aloud. "For all the little boys and girls who'll be participating in the Junior Tenkaichi Budokai, please come and line up beside me in orderly fashion."

Koji, Goten, and Hoshi groaned simultaneously in dejection at the announcement.

"Do your best kids," Kuririn told them, while secretly relieved to know that there went three less Saiyajin he wouldn't have worry about fighting.

"Yeah, papa, we'll try to enjoy ourselves until Koji, Goten, and I face each other," Hoshi said.

At that moment, people were moving out of the way as a pudgy, bespectacled man dressed in a stripe shirt and black pants, along with a couple more Budokai attendants were making their way to the center of the area. Along with them, was some machine of some kind. Once everything was place, the man in glasses cleared his throat and started to speak.

"Attention participants," said the official. "This year, instead of going through elimination rounds like we've done in the past, we decided to test your strength out with this punching machine here, and those who get a high score on the machine will win one of the sixteen spots opened in today's tournament. And since Mr. Satan is our current World Champion, he automatically qualifies. So, then, will our champion please come forth to get the first punch?" At the last of his dialogue, the man pointed in the direction of a pair of double doors.

The doors swung opened accordingly, and out came the World Martial Arts Champion himself, donning his white cape, and his championship belt strapped proudly around his waist. He made his way off the steps and through the crowd, receiving respectful cheers from practically of the competitors who weren't the Z-Senshi.

"This should be exciting," Kuririn muttered dryly.

Photographers in the audience were snapping pictures of the World Champion right and left, as he pulled his cape and belt off, and stepped in front of the machine. Over by Gohan, Piccolo scowled distastefully at all the flashing lights.

_*That's enough of that,*_ he thought irritably.

There was a sudden twinkle in his eyes, and in response the lens of every camera there exploded. There was a communal cry of shock, as those with damaged cameras stared down at them dumbfoundment, wondering what had just happened.

"What in the world?" Mr. Satan muttered, staring in shock at all the shattered cameras. "How did all the cameras managed to blow up like that? And those would've made good poster shots, too."

Goku laughed, realizing what had happened. Turning toward the Namekseijin, he said, "Piccolo-san, you haven't changed a bit."

"Piccolo-san?" Gohan looked toward his mentor questioningly.

Without looking at Gohan, Piccolo responded, "Gohan, this supposed to be a competition and I don't want anything holding you back. If we meet in the ring today, Gohan, I want a good fight."

"Ah..._arigatou_, Piccolo-san," Gohan said thankfully.

Back at the punching machine, Mr. Satan stopped wondering about the mysterious destruction of the cameras and turned his attention back onto the task at hand. After cracking and popping his knuckles, the self-proclaimed savior of Earth grinned fiercely at the machine. A hushed silence had fallen over the area, as all awaited for Mr. Satan's demonstration.

"Okay, maggots!" he shouted. "Pay close attention, because I'm about to show you what real strength is!"

On that note, he let out a battle cry and delivered a straight right punch. As soon as his fist made contact, numbers started rolling up on the screen. After a moment of this, the numbers finally slowed down, beeping when it completely stopped.

"Ah, 137!" said the official, obviously impressed.

"Yosh!" Mr. Satan cheered, thrusting out the victory sound.

"Yey, Papa!" Videl shouted from the crowd, never noticing that her voice had instantly drawn a certain superhero's gaze in her direction.

He barely heard the stunned murmurs that flowed through the crowd about his high score. Some were clearly not that impressed.

"Ooooo, I'm so impressed. NOT!" Kuririn said irritably.

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, for someone like Mr. Satan, that wasn't all that bad," Goku remarked.

Mr. Satan rubbed his knuckles across his chest for a well job done, thinking that no one would be able to top his score. He reached down and picked his cape up and slung it over his shoulder. He walked back towards his dressing room, but before he went inside he turned to acknowledge the group of warriors.

"Good luck to you all! And I hope you can at least get a exceptional number, so we can give the fans a good show and some decent fights." Those were his last words before he wandered off into his room.

The official then turned back to the group of other warriors. "Okay, contestants! Come over to the punching machine to test your strength out, but line up in a single file, please."

All of the fighters did as they were told. Once a single line had been constructed, qualifying for spots in the tournament had officially got underway. Over the next few minutes, the line moved along, with some of the normal participants getting scores surprisingly higher than Mr. Satan, while others either got close to his score, or getting depressingly lower scores. At the back of the line, never being one for having much patience, Vegeta bristled the whole time in annoyance.

"Pick Earthlings to come up with such damn nonsense as this," he growled.

"Next up, is No. 85!" the announcer called.

Hearing her number being called, Amara walked over towards the machine.

"Hey, she's hot," commented one of the fighters.

"Yeah, but I bet she gets a 13," said another fighter.

Some of the other men laughed at the remark.

"Oi, Amara," Kuririn called. "Remember, go easy with the machine."

"I know," came the reply.

Standing in front of the machine, Amara struck it with her right fist as _lightly _as she could. The crowd had fell silent again, waiting to see what number the raven-haired woman would get. Finally, the numbers stopped rolling and the majority of the contestants who didn't know how strong Amara really was had been shocked into startled astonishment.

"No. 85...8...800!" the official shouted, his eyes nearly too big for his glasses now.

"What?" Videl gasped in disbelief, staring at the woman with saucer eyes. More shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd.

"That's why I told you go easy on it!" Kuririn protested.

"Shut up!" Amara snapped. "I was going _easy_."

"Hm. Now that just can't be right," said the official, missing the frosty glare Amara shot him, as he and the two attendants moved in to inspect the machine for any damages.

"Well, nothing seems to be broken," one of the attendants told the official, after the three had given the machine a cursory looking over.

"Perhaps you should have her try it again," suggested the other attendant.

"Right," the official agreed. Turning back to an annoyed-looking Amara, as nicely as he could, he asked, "Um, miss? Sorry about that, I think the machine must've temporarily malfunctioned. Could you please try again?"

Amara had the mind to show him firsthand that her score hadn't been the cause of the machine malfuctioning, but she caught her temper and did as she as asked. Stancing herself a little bit seriously this time, she struck out at the machine with a even _lighter_ punch. Numbers scrolled across the screen in a near dizzying rate once more, and then a moment later beeped as it had come to a stop again.

People gasped again.

"2...and 02!" said the official, goggling at the machine again.

Before he could try to blame her score on the machine malfunctioning again, and subsequently have to thrash him just to show him that it wasn't the case, Amara walked away.

Seeing that he had no other choice, the official accepted Amara's score, and started moving the line along. As time went on, the crowd's eyes progressively grew wider as the the rest of the Z-Senshi were called up to the machine, with each getting scores much more impressive than Mr. Satan's, though not too not high as Amara's first try; only Piccolo and Juuhachi-gou had gotten a score higher than Amara's final score with 210 and 203. And finally, it was time for the Prince of Saiyajin to step up to the machine at last.

"Outta the way," he told the official and the attendants.

The three quickly hurried out of the way. While Vegeta wasn't very tall, they could still tell by the impressive physique they could see beneath his outfit and the fierce scowl on his face, that it would be in the best interest for continuning their well-being that they did as they were told. For a brief moment, Vegeta stood before the machine, studying it. Then, curling up his fist, Vegeta struck out at the machine with a punch...completely smashing it into smithereens. A piece of the machinery went flying into a nearby palm tree, slicing it half like paper. The recorders' eyes had tripled in size.

Juuhachi-gou merely shook her head and stuffed her hands back into her pocket.

"Vegeta-san!" Gohan cried in disbelief.

Beside him, his father clapped a hand over his face and shook his head.

Amara smirked. "Did any of you really expect anything else from that man?"

Meanwhile, the crowd was aghast at what they saw. Gaping at the Saiyajin Prince with their mouths opened wide, they moved aside quickly as he came passed them, not wanting to suffer the same fate as the punching machine had. Amidst the crowd, Videl watched Vegeta with a narrow look for a brief moment, before she spotted a familiar face, and went over tap him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh-hi Videl-san!" Gohan greeted, his face brightening up as soon as he saw who it was.

"Hi. Say, did you just see what that guy just did to the machine?"

"Aaaaa, oh, yeah!" Gohan said, feeling embarrassed for what the Saiyajin Prince just did. "That was just Vegeta-san. He's not the most patient man you'll ever meet."

"You mean you know him?" she asked, surprised.

Gohan was about to say something, but stopped when he noticed his father and the other Senshi were coming towards him and Videl. Upon seeing Gohan with Videl, they all stopped in front of them.

"Hey, Gohan, aren't you goin' introduce us to your friend?" Kuririn asked with a sly smile.

"Oh, right! Everyone, this is Videl-san."

"Hi! I'm Son Goku, Gohan's dad," Goku said, shaking Videl's hand. "Hey Gohan, we're about to go see Goten and the others fight in the Junior Division. We'll see you there." Goku said, and then he and the other warriors walked off.

Gohan and Videl stared after the group for a moment, before Videl turned back to Gohan with a questioning look.

"That was your father?" she asked. "Didn't you tell me he was dead?"

Gohan laughed lamely in response, wondering how he was going to explain this. _*Oh, boy, this'll fun. Well, welcome back, Dad.*_

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	17. Child's Play

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ.**

**Author's Note: You all remember Idasa and Ikose, the two obnoxious boys who faced Trunks and Goten at the tournament? Well I've created them a sister named Iva for Kuririn and Amara's daughter. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seventeen: Child's Play**

* * *

Koji, Goten, and Hoshi sat tailor-style together in the far left corner of the waiting room for the participants, completely bored and annoyed even. To be more precise, Goten and Hoshi were bored, Koji was the annoyed one. He wanted to fight with the grown-ups and show his father and mother how strong he really was, he didn't want to fight with a bunch of normal kids that he could beat with one hand tied behind his back. Unfortunately, due to the rules (which he thought were very stupid) he had no other choice but to compete in the Junior Division.

Somehow the blue-eyed, young boy managed to express all of his contempt towards the tournament's rules with just a sigh. It was already a given that he, Goten, and Hoshi would be the top three fighters in the tournament. Though Koji wasn't worried at all about having to face either his best friend or his cousin, since he always beat them whenever they played their Fight Games. However, Goten could be a potential threat to him. Even if he was born before either Koji or Hoshi, Goten had only really began to seriously train just last year, while his friends had started training at a earlier age. But once Goten started, he was able to quickly outstrip Hoshi in power and nearly catch up to Koji. Still, Koji wasn't worried, because he was trained by the strongest warrior on Earth- his father, the Saiyajin Prince. Plus, he was smarter than Goten.

This tournament was his.

"Hey, Iva, I thought they said that this was a fighting competition, not a daycare center!" scoffed a grating young male voice.

Goten was the only one in his small group that bothered to see who had just said that. Looking up, he discovered a bunch of teens standing not too far away from him and his friends, sniggering down at them in contempt. The young Saiyajin Prince and Princess completely ignored them, though. Koji tediously patterned invisible circles on the floor with his right index finger, while Hoshi just stared down at her lap impassively

Suddenly, two of the teenagers walked over, and Goten's brows rose in curiosity. One was an unattractive looking boy garbed only in black trousers, and the other was a fierce looking girl wearing a magenta gi suit. They were tall, with the boy being a couple of inches taller than the girl. The boy had long blonde hair that fell to the back of his neck and large bangs hanging over his forehead; he was in good shape as he had the upper torso of an athlete, which was mostly taped up from his right shoulder all the way down to where it circled his midriff, and the same tape circled both of his arms. The girl's hair was red, fashioned in a messy, long braid, with tape circling hers wrists as well. While he knew he wasn't as smart as Koji or Hoshi, Goten actually had the intellect to wonder if the two were in fact siblings, as they both had the same scents, the same charcoal, dark eyes and the same aggressive sneers stamped on their faces.

"Oh, so you two little squirts are tryin' to ignore us, huh?" the girl, known as Iva, snorted. "Well, you won't be when we're kickin' the crud outta ya' and sending ya' home crying to your mommies!"

The blonde-haired boy, known as Idasa, and some of the other older kids laughed. However, both Koji and Hoshi continued to show them both no intimidation or any attention for that matter. Goten had even seemed to grow bored with the pair as he propped his chin in his hands and stared at the ground.

Both Idasa and Iva glowered irritably at the small competitors for showing them disrespect.

"Why you arrogant little..." the boy hissed, directing his words at Koji. "Well, ignore this!"

He then threw a punch at Koji. Although he wasn't really going to hit the younger boy, mostly because of the rules forbidding all the contestants of any unofficial altercations outside matches, he still expected to get some kind of reaction. To his surprise, Koji didn't even move once from his position, even as Idasa's fist came just mere inches to the side of his face and stopped. Idasa gaped, then he scowled.

"WHAT? You didn't flinch?" he growled in disbelief.

For the first time, Koji turned and looked directly at Idasa; his face impassive- a trait he inherited from his mother.

"That's because you're nothing to flinch about in the first place," Koji replied scornfully.

Idasa looked quite offended now. Clouded by anger, he made a furious move towards Koji, with the intention of actually hitting the younger warrior this time. To hell with the rules! However, before could even throw a punch this time, his sister surprisingly stopped him.

"Let me go!" Idasa barked.

"Iie!" his sister said defiantly, though she let him go, anyway. "Wait for the tournament to start to beat the tar outta 'im, where it's legal and you want get in trouble for it." As she said the last part, she gave Koji a very horrible grin, which he didn't even pay attention to, as he went back to making unseen circles on the floor again.

Idasa considered his sister's words. A second later, a wicked smile stretched his unpleasant countenance as he looked Koji down.

"That's just fine by me!" he finally agreed. "You shrimps are going down!"

On that note, Idasa spun on his heel and stalked off, with Iva and his gang following behind him.

_*What a loser,* _Koji thought. He had already planned to try not to have any real fun during this tournament until he faced either Goten or Hoshi. But he suddenly decided he would make some exceptions if he had to face that annoying blonde-hair boy.

* * *

Just as the Z-Senshi had found them a spot in the stands, Mr. Satan had been introduced. As always, Mr. Satan made a flashy entrance that ended up being hilariously botched, but in the end he managed to cover it up by making it seem like a joke.

"Now then, in the time we have before the preliminaries are finished," the Announcer said to the audience, "and the Junior Division gets underway, we have quite the surprise for you all. Please enjoy this special event we've kept especially for today, featuring Mr. Satan himself!"

Abruptly, a large blimp slowly drifted into the arena, with a wide movie screen attached to its side. It came to a stop over the building where the waiting room was.

The Announcer went on. "What is this surprise, you ask? Well, nothing but a motion picture...recreating the role Mr. Satan played during the Cell Games! We present to you 'Our Savior Mr. Satan: A Record of Glory'".

While Mr. Satan's loyal fans erupted in cheers, the reaction of Mr. Satan himself was completely different.

"What? I haven't heard about this!" Mr. Satan exclaimed dismayingly.

Back in the stands, most of the Z-Senshi looked wary about this announcement.

"H-hey, did he just say there's a movie?" Kuririn asked.

"Finally, I now get the chance to see your fight with this Cell person I've heard so much about," Amara remarked.

While she didn't comment, this movie also interested Juuhachi-gou. She never got to see the Cell Games because she stuck inside Cell himself at the time, so it would be nice to finally get to see it from the outside.

"Stop!" Mr. Satan was still complaining to the Announcer. "This is something the TV station made by themselves! This isn't something I had made so I could brag about it!"

"How modest of you to say," the Announcer replied, secretly getting a kick out of Mr. Satan's hesitation to show the film. He turned back to the audience. "Everyone, do you want to see the movie?"

His response was an instant round of cheers.

"Okay, in that case, everyone do the Satan Call!"

"Hey, hold on..." Mr. Satan tried to stop him, but it was too late. Already the fans were loudly chanting his name; being the ultimate show-off, he just couldn't fight it any longer and played off to the cheering fans, tossing up the victory sign.

"And so, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the show!" the Announcer added.

On cue, the movie screen was switched on. After the opening clip was shown, the image of a ring sitting a desert appeared on the screen, pillars standing at every interval. A wind blew continually across the ring, carrying with it dirt, rock fragments and dust. It was then seen that someone was standing in the middle of the ring; while the person was facing the other direction, most of the Z-Senshi would know him anywhere.

Perfect Cell then turned around for the audience to see his face. Or rather, the actor in the obvious Cell costume turned around. Kuririn tightened his hold on the railing bar to keep himself from falling over from stupor.

"What do you call that!"

Amara was blinking at the image of Cell in puzzlement. She then turned to her husband. "I-Is that really him-Cell?"

"Hardly," Kuririn answered.

The footage then widens to show a familiar warrior with spiky, golden hair confronting Cell.

"We're gonna defeat you!" vowed the avatar of Super Saiyajin Goku. Behind him, all the avatars of the Z-Senshi stood together behind him in support.

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou gawped in humorously disbelief.

"Oh, man!" Goku exclaimed, mortified.

Beside him, both Piccolo and Vegeta were seriously debating with themselves on rather they should find the person responsible for this and kill them painfully and slowly.

After a few words of exchange, the fake Cell and Goku engage each other in battle. Their battle soon took the sky, clearly provided by wires hoisting them up in the air, trading blows back in forth.

"W-what in the world is this?" Amara asked, her left eyebrow twitching.

"It's absurd is what it is!" Piccolo growled.

"Don't get so upset," Goku said good-naturedly. "It's pretty fun to watch, ain't it?"

On the movie, the bogus Goku had charged the bogus Cell, only to be easily knocked to the side by a single kick. Seeing that his comrades were defeated, the rest of the badly-made facsimiles of the Z-Senshi went into the ring to help their comrade out. But they had been easily knocked away with simple punches and kicks. The fake Cell had raised his hands in victory, as his enemies now laid battered and beaten on the ground, much to the embarrassment of some of the Z-Senshi.

"Hold it right there!" everyone in the arena had heard a familiar voice. The camera shifted, and showed that a bogus, short Mr. Satan had arrived on the scene, his arms akimbo and his plastic mouth curved in a dangerous smile. To the amazement and disgust of the Z-Senshi, and their family and friends in the audience, the rest of the spectators actually began cheering, apparently oblivious to the fact that they were watching a very cheesy movie full of unreal people. Near the ring, Mr. Satan definitely wanted to be somewhere else right now.

"You may have defeated this group of chumps, but let's see how you fare against the mighty, Mr. Satan!" the fake champion challenged, taking off his cape and championship belt, and drawing back into a dramatic fighting pose. Cell readied himself as well. A long pause then ensued.

Momentarily, the fake Mr. Satan sprung forth at Cell. He ducked underneath an attempted punch from Cell, and caught him squarely in the stomach with a harsh kick; the crowd praised the World Champion's actions.

_*Someone please stop this torture_!* Mr. Satan privately begged, covering his face in shame.

"Oh, boy, look," Kuririn groaned, pointing at something on the screen.

Back on the movie, Cell was still doubled over, clutching at his stomach, his cheeks were puffed up as if he was about to hurl. Everyone in the group, except for Amara, had a general feeling as to what was about to happen now, and a certain blonde narrowed her eyes coldly at the screen. Then on the screen, Cell flung his head back and then flung it forward, with the appearance that he really was about to retch. However, no one was able to see it, as the movie suddenly took this time to get blurry for a second, causing some of the spectators to boo. Then the movie cleared up again, and it revealed Cell was now on his hands and knees, kneeling in front of what looked like to be green-colored vomit. But there something most interesting about it; lying in the center of the nasty looking substance, was an unconscious, woman with blonde hair fashioned in a razor-bob hairstyle.

The Z-Senshi immediately looked over towards Juuhachi-gou, curious as to how she was taking seeing the uncomplimentary version of herself on the movie. They found the blonde woman's lovely face scrunched in a furious scowl as she glared death at the aircraft.

On the screen, Mr. Satan was now standing before the apparently defeated Cell, the latter seemed to be begging for mercy.

"Oh, please spare me Mr. Satan, I beg of you! It is obvious that I am no match for a warrior who's as superior as you!"

"Well, all right. I'll spare you this time. But if I ever catch you pulling this kind of stunt again, you're done for!"

The picture then switched to another scene moments later, showing Mr. Satan standing in the center of the ring, with his arms raised in victory. The Z-Senshi were standing around him, praising the Champion for saving them and the Earth. The fake Juuhachi-gou had seemed to have somehow been revived, too, as the movie showed her wrapping her arms around Mr. Satan's neck.

"Thank you so much for saving me, Mr. Satan. My hero." Then the fake Juuhahci-gou gave him a kiss on the cheek. That brought the end to the movie, as the scene faded away, and the credits appeared.

After the movie had finished, Mr. Satan's fans had given him a large round of applause. However, the Champion wasn't there to receive it, as he'd snuck back to his dressing room, while everyone else had been too engrossed with the movie.

A group of people who weren't applauding were the Z-Senshi. The Warriors stood at the top of the stands in various stages of annoyance and bemusement. But Juuhachi-gou was the most annoyed, her beautiful face contorted in cold fury after being embarrassed the way she just was. It took all her self-control to not blast the blimp into oblivion, and do the same to Mr. Satan.

"Sure is amazing what happens when you let a fib go on this long!" Goku laughed.

"Wow, that was wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!" the Announcer said accordingly, thinking no such thing on the inside.

All of Mr. Satan's loyal fans instantly obliged. However, as the Announcer glanced over in the direction he'd last seen Mr. Satan, he finally noticed that the Champion wasn't there any more. Imperceptibly, his mouth curled wryly, as he thought, *_The faker probably snuck off in shame.* _

A short while later, the three half-Saiyajin had been called to the ring to be introduced to the audience along with the other participants in the Junior Division. They ignored the glares of doom a certain boy and girl had thrown their way. When all of the youths made it to the ring, they were immediately ordered to get in a neat line, side-by-side. As the Budokai Announcer stated how all 35 participants would compete in the Junior Division and went over the rules, stating how the winner would be involved in a special attraction match with the Champion of the Tenkaichi Tournament hiimself. Above in the stands, the Z-Senshi had spotted the kids.

Clearing his throat, blonde-haired man immediately got back to the matter at hand. He then brought his trusty microphone back to his lips, and stated, "Now that's over with, let the Junior Tenkaichi Budokai commence!"

The Junior Tenkaichi Budokai got jumpstarted shortly after. Over the next hour, the spectators laughed, cried, some even dozed off from some of the tactics the kids used in their matches. In one match, two boys went for a flying kick at the same time and completely missed each other. In another bout, a boy burst in tears before the match could even get started; his opponent, dumbfounded, went to go calm him down, but the crying kid lashed out at him with a punch and actually knocked him out cold. And in another fight, a large kid used his weight advantage over his opponent, and shoved him completely out the ring with his large stomach.

"This is so boring," Hoshi sighed, standing next beside Koji, and Goten standing on the other side of him. The three were standing near entryway of the main entrance, impatiently waiting their turn to go out and fight.

"Toldya so," Koji said.

"Man, there sure are a lotta people out there," Goten remarked, speaking more to himself than his friends. As his innocent dark eyes scanned stadium, noting the thousands of people sitting in the stands, butterflies began to flutter in his stomach. Living in the mountains for most of his life, he wasn't used to such big crowds, and suddenly didn't feel all that confident about fighting in front of all of them.

"I hope we fight soon. I'm tired of watching these losers embarrass themselves!" Koji said tartly.

"You said it!" Hoshi agreed, giggling.

He was unaware that he'd been heard.

"Do you hear those lil' munchkins on there?" Idasa hissed, fixing a blazing gaze on Koji in particular.

"They got some nerve trying to look down on other people, when they probably can't even reach the kitchen sink at their house!" Iva scoffed.

A boy beside the two laughed at the girl's sally. "That's a good one, Sis!" said Iva and Idasa's brother, Ikose.

"As you two know, the three of us are going to be taking on the three of them," Idasa reminded his younger siblings, who nodded at him gravely. "I got that lil' turd, Koji, Iva's got the Hoshi girl, and you've got Goten, Ikose. I'm going to pound that little twerp into a pulp, so that his Mom doesn't even recognize him!" As he made his vow, his eyes never left Koji, who still hadn't been aware he was watching him.

"We'll do the same to those other two runts!" said Ikose, crunching his left fist into his right hand.

"Of course! Especially with Mama out in the audience watching us," said Iva. She shivered a bit as she added, "Do you know what she'd do to us if we were to lose to them?"

Though Idasa and Ikose didn't answer her, they still shivered at the same time, nonetheless. Their mother was a very frightening person; even their father was very afraid of her.

Idasa quickly regained his composure and glared over at his opponent, his face contorted in cold determination.

"Stop talking like that!" he barked. "None of us are going to lose, right?"

His brother and sister yelled in confident agreement, "Right!"

* * *

Unfortunately, for the three siblings, when the time came for their matches against Koji, Goten, and Hoshi, they weren't able to keep their words. Iva was the first one to get taken out, during her match against Hoshi. As soon as the Announcer told them to start, Iva opened up with a flurry of punches on her younger and smaller opponent...which each of them were blocked with great ease, much to astonishment of the spectators who weren't used to seeing a little child move so fast. The end came when Iva lashed out at Hoshi with a leg sweep, but Hoshi somersaulted over it and greeted Iva harshly with a roundhouse back kick to the face when she turned around, knocking the older girl out cold.

"What a knockout hit, ladies and gentleman! Hoshi-san's your winner!" the Announcer declared, while attendants were running into the ring to check on the unconscious Iva.

"Yatta!" Hoshi yelled excitedly, jumping in the air in joy. After a moment of being stunned by the little girl's ability, the crowd erupted in cries of approval, a minute later than most of the Z Warriors did.

"All right! That's daddy's little girl! Go Hoshi!" Kuririn shouted and waved down at his daughter, who saw him and waved back briefly before heading back inside the waiting room. He missed the ironic look Amara gave him. It had been Kuririn who'd originally been against their daughter not fighting, but it seemed he was changing his tune now.

"Wow, she's fantastic!" Goku applauded, wondering how his own son and as well as Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's son would do as well.

He and everyone else wouldn't have to wait for long, as Koji's turn finally came up. The red-haired boy strolled confidently out to the ring, looking cool, calm, and collected, even in spite that his opponent, Idasa, was hissing threats at him. Goten and Hoshi cheered Koji on from inside the waiting room, though both knew that he really didn't need luck.

"Go, Koji-kun! You can do it!" called Bulma; the rest of the gang adding in their own cheers.

"Please! That little seesaw midget is going down to my big, strong Idasa!" The gang stopped cheering and turned simultaneously in the direction of the obnoxious, female voice that had just insulted Koji. The group found themselves looking at a homely, corpulent woman with large red hair and glasses. "Humph! It's bad enough that Iva lost to that shrimpy girl! I've never been so embarrassed!"

Bulma scowled at the woman, her notorious temper starting to flare. "Hey, I wouldn't talk about those two if I were you," she warned, a smug smile gracing her mouth. "Their mothers are going to be competing in the Adult Tournament, and I don't think they'd take kindly to you talking about their children."

The large, obnoxious lady snorted at Bulma. She was about to respond, but her words paused at her lips when she heard the announcer shout "HAJIME!" down below.

Bulma and the woman seemed to come to an unconscious agreement to forget about their arguing and watch the fight. However, the match was over with just as soon as they looked down. The only thing they saw before Koji was declared the winner, was the young prince decking that Idasa character with mean looking uppercut.

The red-haired woman blanched. "Oh, no! Not Idasa-chan, too!"

Beside her, Bulma gave her another smug smile, before joining in with the others in congratulating her nephew.

"Hey, Goku, Goten's about to get ready to go next," Kuririn announced.

All the Warriors gazed down and saw the Announcer introducing a nervous looking Goten to the ring, along with his opponent Ikose.

Goku grinned. "Aw, what a handsome lil' guy. I hope he doesn't hurt his opponent too badly."

Goten's bout with Ikose was a little bit longer than Koji's and Hoshi's bout, though still short. The unkempt-haired boy had been so timid by all the spectators staring down at him, that he couldn't get into a fighting mood so easily like he usually does when sparring with his mother, brother, and best friends. In the end, it would be some encouragement from his mother and Hoshi as well, telling him to just relax and do his best, which would help his fear subside a bit and give him some confidence. Seeing how nervous he was, Ikose thought Goten was easy pickings for him, and that he would be able to get revenge for his brother and sister. Unfortunately for him, just as soon as he charged, Goten threw out a punch to Ikose's face, which was supposed to have been experimental, but it was still all it took to beat the older boy, anyway.

Goten blushed modestly when the Announcer stated that he was the victor and the fans erupted in cheers. Meanwhile, Ikose was stretched out of the ring by the attendants, to be taken to the infirmary where his brother and sister were.

"Yosh' Goten! Way to go, son!" Goku cheered enthusiastically, as did Kuririn.

In the mean time, the three little half-Saiyajin unsurprisingly dominated throughout the rest of the Junior Tournament. They blew through their opponents easily, with Goten's confidence steadily rising with each victory. Before everyone had knew it, the time had come for the semi-finals of the tournament; it had been announced that Hoshi would meet a young Sumo fighter named Asashoryu, and surprisingly enough, Goten and Koji would be facing each other in the second semi-final match. As soon as it was announced that his son would be facing his rival's son, Vegeta's dark eyes sparked with the genuine interest since the Junior Tournament had first started.

In the first semi-final match, Hoshi defeated Asashoryu in three seconds, and without evening landing a blow on him. All it took was a fierce glare from the dark-haired girl and a threatening stomp forward in his direction, and her much larger opponent screamed in terror and went running completely out of the ring and back into the waiting room. The spectators exploded in laughter, while Hoshi was declared the winner once again and a participant in the Championship Finals.

The next semi-final match definitely didn't end so quickly. Koji and Goten had put on quite the match, with both being so near in fighting ability, the bout was fast and furious. One moment in the match, Goten had broke the promise he and the other Saiyajin made on the plane ride to the tournament, turned Super Saiyajin to break free from a full nelson hold Koji had him in- much to shock of Goku and the annoyance of Vegeta. For a long time, a majority of the crowd had watched the action in bewilderment, but they started to get into it when they saw just how good the fight was. After a long, hard-fought battle, it came to a close when Koji repaid the favor from earlier, by changing Super Saiyajin and hitting him in the back with a ki blast. Goten was sent flying out of the ring; he tried to stop himself, but by the time he had, he'd accidentally touched the bleachers with and was automatically disqualified.

"And your winner is: Koji!"

"Yatta! Yatta!" Koji cried gleefully jumping into the air, while shifting back into his normal form.

"Ah man!" Goku groaned, looking down at his son in sympathy. He was surprised to feel a hand suddenly grasp his shoulder, and even more surprised to see that it belonged to the Saiyajin Prince, who was actually laughing good-naturedly. "Vegeta?"

"Oh, don't feel so bad, Kakarott. There's always next year."

"I wouldn't be getting so smug just yet if I were you, Vegeta!" Amara told him. Vegeta's mood was instantly darkened, and he whirled a glare on his sister.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"In case you've forgotten, your kid still had to defeat mine before he can win the Junior Tournament," the Princess reminded him. Her mouth curled smugly as she added, "After the hard battle he was in against Kakarott's son, the question is: can he still fight at that intensity against my daughter? I seriously doubt it."

"I guess we'll find that out when the match begins." Surprisingly, that came from Juuhachi-gou. Turning on her immediately, the furrow in Amara's brows deepened even more. Juuhachi-gou met her hard black gaze unflinchingly.

Before anything could happen, Gohan and Videl abruptly arrived.

"What's up, guys? Did we miss anything?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, Goten made it all the way to the semi-finals with Koji and Hoshi, but he lost to Koji," Goku explained.

"O, no. The poor little guy," Gohan said sympathetically. "I bet he's feeling pretty down."

Seeing Gohan and Videl standing close to each other, Kuririn's eyes narrowed slyly and a devilish smile curled his mouth.

"You know Gohan, it sure did take you and Videl an awfully long time to get here," he remarked. Gohan and Videl shared identical blushes at the implications behind Kuririn's words.

"That's because we had to wait for them to find another punching machine, after that guy over there totalled it!" Videl said defensively, pointing an accusing finger at Vegeta, who very briefly looked her way before looking the other way.

"Yeah, that's all we were doing!" Gohan added.

"Mm-hmm. I bet," Kuririn said.

"Hey look Kuririn, I think Gohan's blushing," Goku remarked. He and Kuririn burst in laughter at the chagrined teenager.

"The match is about to start," Piccolo's gruff voice announced, much to Gohan's relief.

Goku and Kuririn thankfully turned their attention away from teasing Gohan, and back towards the ring, where the announcer was beginning to start the battle.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, we've finally reached the end of the Junior Division," the Announcer was saying. "It's been a most _interesting _event, to say the least, but now it's time for the final battle that will decide this year's Junior World Champion. And I have even more good news: the winner of the bout, will meet our very own World Champion, Mr. Satan, in a special exhibition match afterwards. Okay then, so without further ado, let's bring out Hoshi to start this battle!"

Already in the ring, Koji stood with his arms folded over his chest, his expression haughty, as he waited for his cousin to come out. Goten stood on the outside near the ring, looking on in anticipation. He'd been more than a bit miffed about the way Koji beat him, but he'd quickly got over it when Koji had promised to buy him some toys with the prize money after he wins the championship belt.

Unbeknown to Amara, Koji wasn't tired in the slightest. In fact, even after his lengthy and hard match against Goten, he was ready for another fight. The Budokai Announcer had soon called out Hoshi, who walked into the ring with a determined look on her young visage. However, as soon as she noticed the smug smile on her cousin's face, the same one that always made her want to knock his head off every time she saw it, her mouth slightly tightened. As much as she thought as Koji as more of a brother than her cousin, he could really wear on her nerves at times with his superior attitude towards her, and also at Goten.

She just couldn't let him win, because if she did she knew he would continue to think he was so much better than her.

"Gambette yo, Koji-san! Gambette yo, Hoshi-san!" Goten called from ringside.

The two vaguely heard their friend as they were too focused on the upcoming battle at hand. To them, this battle was just another one of their Fight Games they 'played' when they adults weren't around. Only this time, whoever won were going to get a nice championship belt and some just as nice prize money. The two slowly drew back into battle stances.

"Hoshi, I wanted to apologize to you now instead of after I win our fight," Koji boasted, smiling crookedly.

"Funny, that was supposed to be my line," Hoshi countered, smiling back at him just as crooked.

"Fighters, get ready!" yelled the Announcer. "Hajime!"

As soon as they got the say so, Hoshi moved swiftly towards her opponent in a slide across the ring, but Koji had already let gravity pull him upward as he leapt over her. He tried to kick her while she was passing beneath him, only to hit empty space as Hoshi smoothly spun out from under him. Leaping up, Hoshi went for an uppercut. Koji disappeared. Then Hoshi vanished to dodge a savate kick from a reappearing Koji. Rematerializing behind him, Hoshi struck out with a left hook though her fist connected with the young prince's hand instead as he quickly whirled to catch it. Smirking, Koji goes for a left hook of his own, however, his cousin returns the favor by catching his fist with her free hand. They jockeyed for position, growls issuing from their gnashed teeth as they glared at one another intensely, trying to overpower the other.

"What great action we're seeing from these two talented little warriors so far, folks!" the Announcer commentated. "But as you can see they're currently in a deadlock. Who will gain the upperhand?"

"Feh. It's obvious Koji is stronger," Vegeta opined.

Out the corner of her eye, Amara glared at her brother but she didn't say anything, and returned her stare back to the match going on.

Below, Hoshi was beginning to find out that Vegeta was right, looking worried when Koji started to nudge her back a step, again, and again; Koji smiled haughtily back at her, knowing that he was starting to win this battle of strength. He knew it was inevitable that he would anyway.

"Ut-oh, looks like Koji's started to take control," the Announcer said. "What will Hoshi do now?"

As a answer to that, Hoshi suddenly dropped down on her back and planted her legs into Koji's stomach, using them to flip him over. However, Koji landed on feet, and still holding onto her arms, he flung her into the air. Hoshi went spinning through the air a couple of times before she regained control over her body and stopped herself in midair. Koji rocketed skyward right after, where the two met in an exchange of punches and kicks.

Once again, most of the audience members fell into a state of collective stupor as they gawped at the two children fighting in midair. Even after they just saw saw the same thing during Koji's fight against Goten, a lot people still couldn't get their minds over kids being able to fight at the speed of light, fly and hover, and shoot energy blasts at each other that could really hurt someone. These just weren't things you don't see _normal _kids doing everyday. Near the center of the bleachers on the right side, there was a small group of people used to seeing kids do this everyday, and they were all cheering their hardest for both of them.

Sidestepping a punch, Koji rammed a knee into Hoshi's midsection. She briefly folded over like a cardboard, but quickly recovered and retaliated with a double-footed kick to the chest. Their fists and feet were already swinging again as they moved back in close.

"Keep it up, sweetie! You're doing great!" Kuririn cheered.

"It's amazing how well our kids know each other," Goku commented, very impressed with what he was seeing.

"Wow! Look at those little tykes go!" said a dumbfounded elderly man in the audience.

"Now he shouldn't be hitting that little girl like that!"

"They sure do move fast! I can barely see them!"

"How are those kids able to fly in the air like that? They just aren't normal!"

Still trading blows, the two half-Saiyajin descended back down towards the ring. As soon as they landed on the titled platform, the two backflipped away in opposite directions to opposite sides of the ring.

"Those two sure are going at it pretty hard out there," Gohan remarked.

"You're telling me!" Videl said, goggling down at the half-Saiyajin children. Her eyes were tripled the normal size and her knuckles were pale white underneath her gloves as she gripped the metal handrail.

"They're playing," Piccolo said.

"Right," Goku agreed.

Momently, both the youths just stood there staring hostilely at one another. Goten continued to look on at his friends in expectancy, the Saiyajin part of him wishing feverishly that he could've been in the battle. In the next instant, their mouths curled into Saiyajin-like smirks at the same time.

"Sugoi, Hoshi-chan, you've definitely gotten stronger since our last Fight Game," Koji commended with a half-laugh. "That last shot really stings."

Hoshi giggled a bit. "Thanks, and you're right, I have been practicing since we fought each other last time." Looking serious again, she said, "I really do plan on winning this match, Koji."

"So do I," answered Koji, a Vegeta-like smirk curling his lips. "We've played long enough, let's be for real now."

"Fine by me!"

Mr. Satan looked very annoyed as he stalked back towards the stadium along with an attendant, a complete contrast to how he was looking earlier when they were showing a fake video of him defeating Cell. He was annoyed because he'd been pulled away from his luxurious locker room to face the winner of the Junior Division in a exhibition match.

_*How insulting! Me, Mr. Satan, the World Champion, has to face some pint-sized runt!*_ he thought superiorly. He briefly wondered if him having to face a child was his punishment for lying about saving the world from Cell, but he wasn't able to think about it much longer as he made it to the building where the fighters' made their entrance out to the ring. Shuffling over to the entryway, Mr. Satan looked outside to spot his so-called competition, and wasn't impressed at what he saw.

"What? Those two runts actually made it to the finals?" he asked, as he watched Koji and Hoshi stare each other down. "I can beat those two easily!"

"Oh don't underestimate them just yet, Mr. Satan," the attendant said warningly. "They may be small and little, but they fight quite well."

Mr. Satan snorted. "Humph! I'll believe that when I see it."

The World Champion was about to get his wish, as Koji and Hoshi charged at each other to restart the fight, meeting in the center for another violent dance of punches and kicks. Mr. Satan found himself summarily having to change his initial opinion, as he goggled at the two young fighters.

"See, what I was talking about?" the attendant asked casually. He never noticed the confounded look on the World Champion's face.

Mr. Satan didn't answer him, stunned into silence by what he was seeing out in the ring.

Koji stood his ground while Hoshi was running full speed towards him. To his shock, however, as soon as Hoshi reached him, she passed through him like a ghost. Koji looked baffled.

"Huh? Hey, where did you-" he broke off when Hoshi suddenly reappeared before him and caught him off guard with a bicycle kick. Just when it looked like Koji was about to fly right out of the ring, he swiftly used his ki to put on the brakes and save himself. Looking a bit annoyed, Koji alighted back in the ring. Now it was Hoshi smiling smugly now.

"Koji-kun, how did you like my trick, ne?" she asked.

"It was actually pretty neat," he answered, a bit grudgingly; he really did like it, and might ask her to teach it to him after the tournament was over with. Koji smiled. "But I have some neat tricks of my own?"

"Oh, really?" Hoshi replied, looking genuinely curious.

"Yeah, just watch!" Koji told her, clenching his fists and standing in concentration. Hoshi blinked repeatedly as all of a sudden her vision of Koji started to waver, like she was standing in the middle of a hot desert. Was she starting to see things? Just what exactly was her cousin up to now?

She got her answer momentarily when she suddenly felt a fist in her stomach, planted there by a smirking Koji. She hadn't even register him move! Clasping his hands together, Koji sent her hurtling towards out of the ring. Just narrowly, Hoshi was able to bank in neat hairpin turn to avoid losing the tournament by a ring-out.

In spite of herself, she really liked move. Hoshi looked back down at Koji...but he wasn't there. The girl's eyes widened.

"Nani? Where'd he go?" she asked herself.

"Here I am!" Even though she heard the voice, Hoshi still wasn't able to react fast enough, as she felt a pair of strong arms slip under hers and put her in a full nelson lock. Koji grinned devilishly at the back of Hoshi's head, as she struggled in his strong grip.

"This looks bad. Hoshi's in trouble," Kuririn fretted from the stands. As much as he'd enjoyed seeing his daughter fighting, and promised himself to by her a toy for making the Junior Tournament a lot less boring, the father in him didn't like seeing his little in the situation she was in right now.

"Speak for yourself," Vegeta said smugly, smirking. "From where I'm standing, things look very good."

Unnoticed, Amara had shot Vegeta a brief, dirty look before turning her gaze back towards the fight. If she wasn't so dignified and proud, she might've been cheering on her daughter louder than the spectators surprisingly were. The only thing she could manage was, *_C'mon girl, you can beat the Jinzouningen's brat_!*

"C'mon Hoshi, you might as well give up," Koji told her.

"Never!" Hoshi growled back, which prompted Koji to tighten his hold on her. But Hoshi still wasn't about to give up- the blood of her mother and of Vegeta that flowed through her veins wouldn't allow it.

"I did the same thing to Goten, you remember?" Koji reminded Hoshi. "But he had to break the pact to not go Super Saiyajin, and do it anyway. And you'll have to do it the same thing, too, if you want to get free."

His mocking words struck in angry chord inside Hoshi, as the girl's eyes suddenly blazed with determination.

"Yeah, well I'm not Goten!" Following her words, Hoshi flung her head back as hard as she could, catching Koji in the face with a reverse headbutt. Stunned, Koji's grip lightened around Hoshi's arms, and she immediately took this chance to get free. In blurring motion, she disappeared and reappeared behind Koji, wanting to return the favor to him. However, instead of putting him in a full nelson, she wrapped her arms around his face and leapt up to wrap her legs around his midsection, locking him up as securely as he'd done her.

"Wow, ladies and gentlemen! Hoshi managed to slip out of Koji's hold, but now he's the one who's trapped! How exciting!" As he stated that, the Announcer was feeling genuinely cheerful. Man, he'd missed watching Goku, Kuririn, and their pals compete in the tournaments, because they sure did liven things up a whole lot. He sure hoped they'd be competing in the next ones.

Back up in the air...

"Hey! Let me go, dammit!" Koji growled, struggling to get free. He may have been stronger than Hoshi, but that didn't mean she was _weak _by any means.

"Oh, I will," Hoshi told him, her mouth curling into a lopsided smile that didn't look right on her young face. "But we're going to play a game first."

"A game?"

"Yeah, you tried to force me to go Super Saiyajin just to break out that full nelson a few seconds ago. Now, I wanna see can I make you go Super Saiyajin again before we reach the end of our trip."

"What trip?" Koji demanded, glaring at her in puzzlement out the corner of his eye.

Grinning, Hoshi flared up her ki around her, white flames enveloping both her and Koji. With a battle cry, Hoshi started to descend back towards the ring at a breakneck speed with Koji in tow, spiralling in place as she did so.

"Oh my! Koji and Hoshi are dropping out of the sky really fast!" the Announcer yelled, really aghast. Gasps were elicited from the audience, as they saw how fast the youngsters were moving back towards the ring. And in the entrance of the waiting room, Mr. Satan's eyes looked as if they would fall out at any moment now, as they were wider than dinner plates, as he watched the two little warriors plummet out of the sky as if the two of them didn't care about hurting themselves once they landed.

It had been a short minute ago, that he'd finally realized exactly what he would be dealing with. These kids are with _Them_, the people who really had a hand in destroying Cell. If those others were here, then there was a really big chance he could lose his title. He was doomed.

Halfway towards the ring now, Koji was in a inner debate with himself on whether he should just crash or turn Super Saiyajin. Sure, he'd fallen from some high places before, like off the roofs of his house and Bulma's house, but never this far. If he crashed, he knew it wouldn't kill him exactly, however, crashing was going to hurt. He was going to hate himself for doing this...

Just as the two had gotten a hairsbreadth of the ring, Koji let out a cry and exploded into Super Saiyajin. Hoshi let out a cry of her own as she had to abruptly release her hold on Koji, and was sent flying backwards less than cordially. She tumbled back once, before she used her momentum to her backflip herself back onto her feet. The Princess looked over at her glowing cousin and laughed boastfully, ignoring the cold, Vegeta-like glare he fixed her with.

"Ha ha! Toldya I'd make you got Super Saiyajin!" Hoshi gloated and laughed some more. On the outside, Goten snickered secretly at his friends.

"All right, well now it's your turn," Koji told her frostily.

The laughter immediately ceased, when Hoshi saw Koji thrusting his hands out, apparently gathering power. Hoshi scowled at him.

"Hey! You can't fire energy blasts, remember?"

"Yeah, well we weren't supposed to transform into a Super Saiyajin either," Koji retorted. "It's a little bit too late trying to follow the rules, now is it?"

Hoshi couldn't reply, as she knew that he was right.

"Here it goes!" Koji announced, before letting loose with a most impressive ki blast.

Momentarily, Hoshi looked wide-eyed as she watched Koji's energy blast streak very quickly across the space between them. Before it could reach her, Hoshi's instincts kicked in, and she had no choice but to transform into a Super Saiyajin as well; her chin-length black hair rising up in spikes and her eyes went from dark to a pupiless teal. Quickly, she fired a blast of blue-white energy back to meet Koji's.

Up in the stands, Goku goggled at the girl.

"Whoa! You mean Hoshi can transform into a Super Saiyajin, too!" he exclaimed in surprise.

"Goku, only you would actually get taken aback by this so late in the tournament," Piccolo said behind him, smirking at his long-time friend in amusement.

Hearing him, Goku looked back at the Namekseijin and laughed. "You're right about that, Piccolo. But wow, I can't believe how strong those kids are for being so young. Gohan was only twice their age when he could transform!"

_*Transform?* _Videl repeated to herself, after listening in on the conversation. She then looked askance over at Gohan, her eyes narrowing in a mix of dawning suspicion and a bit of unease. *_Gohan, what in the world are you and in your friends? Flying's one thing, but shooting energy blasts, fighting at the speed of light, and turning into gold-haired fighters is another thing. What are you?*_

Down in the ring, the brilliance of the beams illuminated the ring as they competed for position; the regular people in the stands, along with Mr. Satan gawked and cried when the bright beams wavering back and forth blinded them and they had to shield their eyes. The beams quarrel and glittered vehemently at one another, gold soared through blue-white at Hoshi, pushing the scowling girl further back towards the edge of the ring. Hoshi poured everything she had into her blast and her beam began to slowly rush towards Koji.

"Hey, I think Koji is goin' to win!" Gohan observed, not affected by the glare of the ki blasts with his shades on.

"No, Hoshi is!" Kuririn insisted intensely.

On his side of the beam exchange, a calculating smile curled Koji's lips. Hoshi was surprised when Koji suddenly disappeared. However, she didn't really have time to worry about that, when she saw that her ki beam had burst through Koji's and was making its way over towards the waiting room where Mr. Satan and an attendant stood. Not wanting to get in trouble for blowing the building up, and after she'd promised to not even transform or use energy blasts, Hoshi quickly directed her blast upward. The ki blast barely grazed the stone block in the middle of the entryway, before it had taken a sharp turn skyward, much to the relief of two men inside.

Hoshi had blew a sigh of relief when she saw her blast fly up into the sky and explode on itself. Unfortunately, while she'd been trying to redirect her attack, she'd forgotten all about Koji, so she never saw him reappearing behind her and sneaking towards her.

"Hi!"

Hoshi was only able to turn around, as she registered the all-too familiar voice, before a roundhouse punch struck her in the face. Unluckily, the girl wasn't able to save herself this time, as she went sailing across the ring and completely out of it, and hit the ground with a thud. She regressed back into her base form.

A stunned silence befell the arena, as the incredible battle had suddenly come to a close. It was so silent at that moment, that a pin needle could hit the ground and be heard. After several long moments of goggling, the Announcer regained his composure first. Though, his hands shook a bit as he brought his microphone to his mouth and spoke.

"And ladies and gentlemen...the new Junior World Champion...Koji!

The crowd was silenced for a long minute before, "Yatta!" They cheered wildly.

"Aw, man," Kuririn groaned in letdown.

"But it sure was a close one," Goku said. "I still can't get over how powerful our kids are."

"Well, when you put like that..." Kuririn said, grinning. He'd forgotten how easy it was to not feel bad whenever Goku was around.

A hairsbreadth away from him, Amara snarled aloud after the realization of her daughter losing to her brother's son kicked in. She heard familiar laughter behind her. looked around to glare frostily at Vegeta.

"Don't feel too down, Amara. At least your daughter put on a better fight than Kakarott's kid did," he told her, the arrogance in his voice unmistakable. "Like I said to Kakarott: there's always next year!"

"Oh, shut up!" Amara snapped, and she looked away.

The prince only laughed even more. Beside him, his mate smirked at him.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Vegeta," Juuhachi-gou remarked smugly. She quickly ignored the look he gave her, looking downward at their son instead, who was leaping up and down in joy over his victory. Imperceptibly, a proud smile spread across her face, her eyes glowing softly with pride. *_Good job, musuko-kun.*_

Down below, Amara's angry face could be clearly seen on Hoshi's countenance as she watched from the ground Koji jumping up in the air in glee. She wanted to accuse him cheating so badly, but knew she had forced him to do it after she did it even though they were told not to do so. She was about to clamber up to her feet when a hand was extended out to her; she looked up and saw that it had belonged to the new Junior Budokai Champion. With a small smile, she accepted his hand and let him pull her up to her feet.

"You did pretty good," Koji commended her.

"So did you," Hoshi replied.

The Announcer walked back into the ring, to make another statement. "Now ladies and gentlemen, after just witnessing that fantastic fight between Hoshi and the champ Koji, it's now time for our special exhibition match where lil' Koji will take on the World Champion himself...Mr. Satan!"

The fans cheered wildly for their hero to come out and face Koji, but despite all the whistles and applauses Mr. Satan stood in the entrance tunnel on the far left cowering imperceptibly behind one of the attendants.

"Well, this should be entertaining," Goku laughed.

"Yeah, don't blink or you might miss it!" Kuririn mocked, ignoring Gohan's desperate plea for them to stop as Videl glared at the two balefully for ridiculing her father.

Vegeta half-laughed in disdainful amusement. "Koji will put this moron down in seconds," he sneered. Videl looked affronted.

"What was that?" she demanded hotly.

"Um, he didn't mean it Videl, honest!" Gohan said, quickly jumping in between the two. "Vegeta-san's just kidding!"

Vegeta fixed Gohan with a scowl. He hadn't been kidding, he had meant every word.

"Hey, you guys, why don't we go get something to eat?" Kuririn suddenly queried. With none of them really interested in this fight whatsoever, everyone except for Gohan and Videl, more or less, agreed to the idea.

"Wait a minute!" Videl called, just as the older warriors were about to walk off. They paused to stare back at her. Videl looked at Juuhachi-gou and Vegeta in particular. "You two- isn't that little boy your child? He's about to fight the World Champion. Aren't you going to watch him?"

Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou regarded her indifferently. They traded looks, then looked back to her.

"There's no need for us to watch him," Juuhachi-gou replied simply.

"No need?" Videl repeated, nonplussed.

"Exactly. We already know the outcome," Vegeta added.

That was all either of them had to say on the matter, because right after the two turned together and walked off. Goku and the others fell into step after them, leaving behind Gohan, who had been quietly watching the whole time, and a stunned Videl.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	18. A Surprise Encounter

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but my own original characters.**

**Chapter Eighteen:** **A Surprise Encounter**

* * *

A pair of attendants stood guard in front an important-looking entrance. Written in Japanese kanji on a sign that had been pasted to the arch of the passageway was the title "Athlete's Rest Resort". However, at the moment the two attendants were more engrossed with the conversation they were having than doing any actual guarding.

It was a few minutes later when the sound of footsteps advancing toward them brought their conversation to an abrupt halt. Immediately snapping to attention, both attendants quickly put on serious faces as they looked to see who was coming their way. Soon enough, the two saw six people coming up the pathway; two of them, a tall and short man with black hair, were engaged in a lively conversation. Two more people, a dark-haired man and woman, looked seemed equally irritated about something. And the other two, a blonde woman and a green(!) man looked as if they didn't care about anything in the world at the moment.

"Halt!" barked one of the attendants as the group finally arrived, spreading his arms out to prevent them from going any forward. "Spectators are not allowed in here. Only the competitors who have passed the preliminaries!"

"Have the results of the preliminaries come on so quickly?" Kuririn asked. He smiled smugly. "Then, if you check that list you'll see we all definitely qualified."

"Oh? Really?" asked the attendant, regarding the short warrior with no nose and his strange looking friends warily. "We'll just see about that." On cue, the other attendant handed him the clipboard he'd been holding, and on the clipboard was a complete list of just who had qualified for the tournament and who didn't. Looking back up at the group, the man said, "State your name!"

"Son Goku."

"Kuririn.

"Amara."

"Juuhachi-gou."

"Vegeta."

"Ma Junior."

"Ma Junior?" Goku echoed, staring at his former rival in surprise.

At the dead warrior's questioning gaze, Piccolo answered, "Because of that incident in the past, I thought it would be best if I go under a different name." With a wicked smile, he added, "Could you imagine how people might react if I went by Piccolo?"

"Ah, I see what you mean," Goku said knowingly.

"Yes, your names are here, all right," the attendant said, sounding a lot friendlier and more respectful to them than he just had been. "In that case, welcome everyone to the Athlete's Resort Area. Here, you can enjoy our sauna and whirlpool baths, enjoy a massage, play ping pong or eat at our buffet-style restaurant." At the mention of a restaurant, Goku's expression lit up brilliantly; even Vegeta's and Amara's expressions defrosted slightly at the mention of getting some food.

"So, just go on in, and make yourselves at home," the other attendant added, he and his partner stepping aside to allow the Warriors entrance. "Oh, and 1:30, there will be a drawing to determine your match order. Don't forget."

The group entered the Athlete's Resort Area. They made an immediate course towards the restaurant, which was easy enough to find as the air was heavy with the scent of delicious food cooking, making each of the three Saiyajin even more eager to get there. Shortly, a building with a thatch top rose into view, a steady stream of smoke issuing out of the chimney. Written in kanji on an inviting sign hanging over the entryway was "Welcome Athletes, to our Buffet-style Restaurant! Eat To Your Heart's Content!"

Being the majority of the participants of the Tenkiachi Budokai, the Z-Senshi relatively had the restaurant to themselves. They sat down together at a table in the center of the room. Immediately, a waiter ambled over to their table to take their orders, and once he had written down what the group had wanted, he walked back towards the kitchen to get their orders prepared.

"Man, I can't wait to eat! I'm starving! I haven't eaten anything since breakfast!" Goku enthused.

"But Goku, I don't get it," Kuririn said, looking at his friend in puzzlement, "You're dead. I always thought dead people didn't have to worry about things such as eating like living people do."

Goku shrugged his broad shoulders. "Well, what can I say? I just love eating!"

"I guess some things never change, even in death," Piccolo remarked in an amused-sounding voice, speaking mostly to himself, though.

Soon enough, the waiter had returned with their orders, though not alone. Sure, while he was able to bring Juuhachi-gou her simple cup of tea and Kuririn his glass of water and plate of salad easily enough, he needed help bringing all the food that Goku, Vegeta, and Amara had ordered. Their orders ranged from bowls of ramen noodles, rice, eggrolls, chicken, dumplings, and other food items, some which the Warriors couldn't really identity. But everything looked and smelled so good, that none of the Saiyajin really cared about that. They just wanted to eat.

Just as soon as the waiters had deposited their orders on the table, the Saiyajin instantly launched their assaults on their meals. Vegeta and Goku ate with their usual wildness, devouring any food item that they could get their hands on, although Amara still ate with a lot more restraint than the other Saiyajin. Empty, dirty bowls and plates started to steadily pile up on the table, nearly blocking Piccolo and Juuhachi-gou from view.

The other three members of their group watched the rather embarrassing spectacle they made with various expressions. Though they were used to the wild way the Saiyajin ate by now, Piccolo nor Kuririn still didn't think they would ever get used to it. Juuhachi-gou watched the three ate, with the usual faint disgust she did her family back at home, while at the same time drinking down her tea.

Some time later, Gohan and Videl strolled into the room together.

"How's it going in here, guys?" Gohan greeted.

"Oi, Gohan!" Goku called, after slurping down some noodles. "Pull up a chair, son! We've already ordered!"

"All right!" Gohan enthused, eager at the idea of eating food like anyone with Saiyajin blood flowing through their veins. He quickly pulled up a chair between Kuririn and his father. Videl, on the other hand, remained standing, not really feeling particularly hungry as she was still kind of reeling from the shock of witnessing her father get punched into a wall by a little kid. Her father could say that he pretended that Koji's punch had been as powerful as it had been, but after hanging around Gohan, and witnessing what Koji was capable of doing from when he fought in the children's division, she knew that it had been absolutely for real. And it bothered her.

As if unconsciously sensing her thoughts, Gohan suddenly said, "Hey, you guys should've stayed for the exhibition match. Koji knocked out Mr. Satan with one punch."

No one saw the complacent smiles Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou exchanged across the table at Gohan's announcement.

Gohan also hadn't noticed the sharp glare Videl threw at in his direction for telling his father and his friends about her father's humiliating defeat. Just because it was true didn't mean that she wanted him to broadcast it to the whole world...even if most of it had already witnessed it back in the stadium.

"Heh. So in other words, Koji didn't even have to break a sweat to beat our surpreme World Champion?" Kuririn said dryly, chuckling.

Already wound tight with mixed emotions, hearing Kuririn mock her father made Videl erupt.

"And just what do you mean by that?" she demanded hotly.

"Nothing! He meant nothing by it, Videl!" Gohan hastened to assure her. Looking narrowly at his friend behind his glass, in a tight-controlled voice, he said, "Didn't you Kuririn?"

"Uh, yeah! I meant nothing by that!" Kuririn replied quickly, waving his hands at the irritated son of his best friend in supplicate motions.

Now that they had Gohan's ravenous appetite added together with the appetites of the other Saiyajin, the bowls and plates started to stack higher than before. This time, both Juuhachi-gou and Piccolo were blocked from view. Videl gawped at Gohan, his father, and his friends, her anger over Kuririn making fun of her father completely forgotten in the face of watching the four eat with the hunger of wolves.

"I swear, all you Saiyajin have bottomless pits for stomachs," Kuririn commented, a small sweatdrop hanging down the side of head.

Videl looked blankly at Kuririn, as she zeroed in on the word "Saiyajin".

"What's a Saiyajin?" she asked.

Before Kuririn could even begin to give her a reply, a pair of strong arms grasped his head in a tight front headlock.

"Kuririn!" Gohan bellowed, glaring down at the former monk. "You have such a big mouth! Will you shut up, already?"

With his mouth covered by Gohan's hand, Kuririn could only nod- well, nod as best as he could when he had arms like steel wrapped around his face.

"Could you let go of me now?" Kuririn managed to get out.

Following that, Kuririn kept obediently quiet during the remaining course of lunch. He didn't want to make Gohan mad anymore; even now his face was still slightly throbbing from that vice-grip hold the half-Saiyajin had placed him in. After witnessing Gohan single-handedly defeat the likes of Cell, he should have known better than to get him angry.

A short while later, the four Saiyajin had at last finished eating, with dirty bowls, plates, cups, and eating utensils now towering over everyone sitting at the table. Soon after they took their leave of the restaurant, and in their wake, they left the poor attendants to wash the large piles of dishes.

"Saaaaa...that was oishii!" Goku said, stretching his well-muscled arms out as he and the others walked down the pathway. Folding his arms behind his head, he added, "man I'm so full I don't think I'll be able to fight in the tournament. If I have to fight one of you guys, please don't punch me in the gut."

"Hey, lets go and see who'll be fighting who in the tournament," Juuhachi-gou suggested.

"Hmph. If I have to face Kakarott in the first round, I'm not just going to punch him in the gut," Vegeta said. "I'm also going to kick him in the gut, too."

Goku's cheerful expression dropped at what the Saiyajin Prince said.

"Ah, man! No mercy!" he whined.

With everyone in agreement with Juuhachi-gou's idea, the group made their way toward the area where they were holding the drawings to decide who the competitors will be matched up against. However, on their way there, they quickly noticed that they weren't the only ones on the pathway. The group had gotten halfway to the strange newcomers, when all stopped one by one. They took the three unfamiliar trio in from head-to-toe.

Up ahead, stood three very unfamiliar individuals dressed in outlandish clothing. Although none of them lived on the Papaya Islands, it was quite easy to tell that these three weren't from around these parts- not from this planet, even, as they rather had an otherworldly feel to them. Especially the short one standing in the middle, who was casually floating in midair.

The short one, who looked the most interesting, didn't seem that much taller than Kuririn himself. He was a pale lavender in color, with white hair bisecting the center of his head, and elfish like ears bejewelled with handsome earrings. He was dressed in eccentric loose clothing, which were of the likes that none of the humans, cyborg, or aliens had ever seen before. Oddly enough, he wore an air around him that gave everyone the impression that he was the leader of this little mysterious outfit.

The one on the right was a strange looking man, who was taller and broader than both his companions. He too had white hair, though his was long, falling down to his lower back, and he had a pair of impressive earrings attached to his elfish ears. His face was wizened, making it plain as day that he was much older than the shorter man, and his expression was currently settled in a severe one. He was also wearing clothing similar to what the shorter one was wearing but his was in different colors.

But the third one was almost as interesting as the short one, seeing as how the person was actually a _she_. Though more intriguing than that was that she was wearing a white helmet with a triangle-shaped black visor, hiding her features. She had orange hair, as it slipped past her helmet, falling down to the middle of her back. She wore the same attire as the two of them, only her attire was pink and orange.

Suddenly, the strange woman started walking towards them. Everyone inwardly braced themselves just in case her and her friends' intentions for being there were cruel. After all, nearly almost every visitor that comes to their planet are there to cause destruction and death in one shape or another. The woman drew up in front of them; she stared at them for a moment, before her hands went up to undo the fastenings that held her helmet in place and she removed it. With no helmet to block her features, everyone could now get a good look at her face. She was an attractive woman, with smooth skin, and glittering orange eyes.

More interesting was that most of them actually knew this woman, as some stared at her in surprise.

"H-hey, it's Kosumo-sama!" Kuririn exclaimed.

Kosumo smiled back the group. "Hello, my friends. It is good to see you again," she said, bowing towards them.

"Kosumo-sama?" Goku repeated thoughtfully. Something about that name rung a bell to him, but he just couldn't think what it was.

Videl frowned at the woman, then she leaned in closer to Gohan. "Gohan-kun, why did that guy call her 'Kosumo-sama'? Is she someone important?"

"Um, you could say that," Gohan answered evasively.

"Eh? Do you all know her?" Goku asked the others.

Piccolo nodded. "Yes, we met her seven years ago, shortly after your passing."

"Oh," Goku said understandingly. He then looked toward Kosumo and offered her his usual friendly grin as he held his hand out for a handshake. "Well, it's nice to meet you then. My name is-"

"Son Goku-san," Kosumo finished, shaking his hand momentarily. Goku stared at her in surprise.

"H-how did you know who I was?"

"Oh, I know a great deal about you, Goku," Kosumo answered, giving him a cryptic smile.

"So, what brings you here, anyway?" Gohan asked.

"Why, to participate in the tournament, of course." Those words surprisingly came from the shorter of the trio, as he drifted over to Kosumo's side, smiling friendly. He looked directly at Goku and his smile widened. "Ah, so you're the famous Son Goku-san I have heard so many incredible things about. I have wanted to try my hand against you in a match."

Goku blinked, not knowing what to make of this.

"I too have managed to qualify in the preliminaries," the man added, still smiling that mysterious smile. "If things go well, I hope we may end up competing against each other. Of course, I do not believe I have what it takes to win. I would just like to know how strong you are. And...by all means, if it is no trouble at all, if I could shake your hand."

"Huh?" Goku looked at the mysterious man in surprise at his sudden question. "Ah, good to meet you."

Seeing nothing wrong with a good handshake, Goku extended his hand out and the mysterious man grasped his. As soon as their hands touched, Goku froze in place, his eyes unnoticeably widened as a weird sensation went through him. He didn't know what to make of the feeling. It wasn't a bad one, nor a good one- strange, it was the only way Goku could describe it. After a long moment, the two had finally released each other's hands. The mysterious smile returned to the man's face, only much sharper this time.

"I see. As the rumors said," he remarked, "you do possess a fine soul."

"Nani?" Goku asked, even more puzzled.

For the first time since he appeared, the man touched down on the ground. He bowed respectfully toward the Saiyajin, and Kosumo bowed as well.

"Well, if you will excuse us," he said.

"Good luck to you all in the tournament," Kosumo added.

With that, the man and Kosumo went to join their other companion, who had been observing in silence the whole time. Turning, they made their way further up the path.

Eyes still fixed on the three retreating forms, Piccolo drew up at Goku's side.

"Kosumo-sama certainly has some interesting friends," he remarked seriously. Somberly he added, "and they're pretty strong, too."

"Um-hm," Goku said in agreement. He smiled. "There's no mistake about it. We ain't the only ones who will have easy wins anymore."

"I don't know, he didn't seem all that great to me," Kuririn said skeptically. "He just seemed like a strange-looking fellow."

"But they are associates of that woman," Amara said, "and we know how strong she is."

"If you say so," Kuririn replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Vegeta, who'd been half-paying attention to what Piccolo was saying, was staring at the engimatic intently. For once, he actually agreed with Kuririn and didn't think Kosumo's companions weren't anything to be afraid of. In fact, he was confident that he could beat them without having to resort to transforming. Still, something about this picture was bothering him- especially Kosumo. Now why would the Guardian of Cosmos and her friends come all the way to Earth just to compete in the tournament?

_*There's definitely a lot more to this than meets the eye,* _he thought.

* * *

When Koji had beaten Earth's self-proclaimed greatest hero in the exhibition match, he had thought it had been pretty cool to beat an adult. Even if the one he fought seemed like nothing more than a idiot that he couldn't tell was extremely strong or extremely weak. However, he soon realized that his victory over Mr. Satan wasn't as exciting as he had thought it would be, when he immediately found himself surrounded on all sides by new reporters and photographers snapping his picture. Even now, Hoshi and Goten, who was sipping on a juice carton, were looking on sympathetically as the persistent reporters tried to conduct an interview with the blue-eyed boy. This went on for a few moments longer before the young prince had finally had enough.

_*I've got to get away from these idiots, and fast!* _he thought. Quickly, an idea came to him.

"Oi, everyone, behind you! It's the great Mr. Satan!" he said with feigned excitement, even pointing behind them.

They fell for it just like he knew they would. The reporters and photographers nearly tripped over each other trying to turn around and get either an interview or picture with the World Champion himself, meanwhile, Koji beckoned both Hoshi and Goten to follow him as he sprinted out of the room fast. His friend and cousin ran away after him. It was only after that when people realized that there was no Mr. Satan. When they turned around to ask Koji about it, they were further dismayed to discover that the boy who had beat the World Champion with one punch was gone, as well as his companions.

"Now where did that kid get to?" a male reporter asked, scratching his head in puzzlement.

"People who work in the media are nothing but jerks!" Koji remarked irritably after he, Goten and Hoshi had put some space between them, stopping only after they had found a wall to hide behind.

"So what now, Koji-kun?" Goten asked.

Whenever Goten or Hoshi couldn't think of anything to do, they always looked toward Koji to figure something out, as he was the smartest of the three even if he was a year younger than Goten. Though, most of his ideas usually ended up getting them into trouble more often than not, even if they are fun.

"Hm. Let's see," Koji said. He crossed his arms and looked upward thoughtfully, as he searched through his brain for some kind of idea. In the next instant, his expression brightened as one came to him. "Hey, I got it! Why don't we compete in the tournament with the grownups?"

"Huh!" Goten and Hoshi chorused, goggling at their friend.

"Have you lost your mind, Koji!" Hoshi asked.

"Yeah, you know we're not allowed to fight with the grownups," Goten added. "We'll get in a lot of trouble if we do!"

"But don't you want to fight with them?" Koji asked. "To show them just how strong we really are?"

"Well..." Goten replied, him and Hoshi exchanging uncertain glances. They then turn back to Koji.

"Just how would we be able to fight with the grownups?" Hoshi asked.

"We need some kind of disguise," Koji answered.

"Where are we going to find a disguise?" Goten asked.

"Hm," Koji replied, thinking. Then, as he would find some inspiration, Koji suddenly leaped up onto the wall they were hiding behind. Peering down into the next area, he saw something of great interest. He may have just found that afflatus after all. "Hey, Goten, Hoshi! Come up here and see this!"

Curious, Goten and Hoshi joined Koji atop of the wall.

"What did you want to show us?" Goten asked.

"Look at that guy down there!" Koji replied, a Vegeta-like smirk curling his lips. "The one with the mask on!"

His two fellow half-Saiyajin peered down. Sure enough, they saw a burly man standing alone in the courtyard. None of them could see his features as he was hidden behind a costume.

"It's a strange mask all right!" Goten remarked, him and Hoshi giggling.

"You know, this area is one where only people who have qualified in the preliminaries can enter," Koji explained. "That means he's one of them! So how about it? Don't you think we can use him?"

"And just how are you going to do that?" Hoshi asked skeptically. "He won't just give you his clothes if you go up and ask him."

"Baka, of course I'm not going to do something like that!" Koji told her. "Both you and Goten just watch!"

Wondering what Koji had up his sleeve, Hoshi and Goten kept their eyes glued onto the scene that was about to unfold before them below.

"Hey, excuse me, mister," Koji called to the masked man, as he ran up to him and tugged on suit.

"Huh?" the man looked down at Koji and raised an eyebrow at him behind his mask. "What you want, boy? An autograph?"

"Well, I came to tell you that there's this fighter back there, who says you're so weak, he can beat you with one arm tied behind his back!" the young boy said glibly.

"Oh, really!" the man demanded, affronted. Koji inwardly chuckled at the anger he'd just heard in the man's voice.

"That's right. So, come on, I'll take you to him and you can teach him a lesson." On that note, Koji grabbed the man's arm and started dragging him toward the next courtyard. When they arrived, he let the man's hand go and stepped back, as he moved forward looking for his supposed challenger.

"All right, I'm here! So where is the chump who thinks he can take me with one arm tied behind his back!"

As he was looking this way and that, he never saw Koji leaping into the air behind him, then punching him hard in the back of the head. The strong man fell down in a pathetic heap and didn't move. Koji prodded him but he was out like a light. He grinned in victory. Hearing footsteps approach, he looked up to see Goten and Hoshi coming his way.

"Hey, you two!" he called, "Come help me get these clothes off him!"

Goten and Hoshi exchanged looks, then shrugged their shoulders. They fell in place alongside Koji, as he dragged his unconscious victim across the lawn, while running towards some bushes nearby.

"Hey, Koji-kun, I'm not so sure about this," Goten voiced his opinion as they started stripping the man. Well, Goten and Koji were stripping him, Hoshi was looking in the other direction, her hands covering her eyes. "This is an awfully big costume for you to fit in by yourself. You'll easily give yourself away!"

"Dummy, I know that," Koji answered. "That's why you guys are going to wear the outfit with me!"

"What!" Goten and Hoshi replied in disbelief.

"I'm not wearing that costume with you guys!" Hoshi said.

"Fine, then! Goten and I will wear it and fight with the adults," Koji replied, after he and Goten removed the entire costume and mask off the unconscious fighter, leaving him in a under shirt and boxers.

"Hmph! Go right ahead!" Hoshi replied. "That'll just be more trouble for you two when you do get caught!"

For the next few moments, there were rustling noises as Koji and Goten tried to get themselves situated inside the man's costume. A long time had passed when...

"Ta-da! Turn around and tell us how we look, Hoshi!" Koji said.

Curious, Hoshi lowered her hands and did turn around. She goggled at her cousin and friend as soon as she saw them. With Koji apparently sitting on top of Goten's shoulders, the two looked tall enough to be in the Senior Division; they were even taller than her father. But due to the costume belonging to a much bigger person, the costume looked unbelievably hideous on them, giving Mighty Mask a ridiculous appearance. Hoshi wanted to laugh so badly that her left eye had started to twitch.

"Um, you guys look...awesome!" Hoshi replied, giving them the thumbs up and a smile. But underneath all of that, she thought, *_Awesome, nothing! You two look more like some gross freak! There's no way you'll be able to fool the adults!*_

"Yeah, we sure do!" Koji agreed. "Come on, Goten, let's try to walk around."

Goten tried to walk, but stumbled since he was unable to see.

"Koji, I can't see under here!" he complained. "I need to see."

"Well, then poke two holes out so you can see," Koji told him.

Goten followed his advice. "Ah, that's much better," he said.

He tried walking again and was a lot more successful at it, now that he could actually see.

Just then, the three heard some footsteps approaching.

"Well, it's time for me to go. See later," Hoshi said, before taking off in blurring speed.

Just after she left, two attendants stepped into the courtyard. They blinked when they saw the disguised Koji and Goten, who both froze under their gazes.

"Hey, what are you still doing here?" one asked.

"Yeah, you're supposed to be at the drawing," the other answered.

"Oh, yeah!" Koji answered in his the huskiest voice he could muster, "I almost forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me." In a low voice, he said to Goten, "Come on Goten, let's get going!"

With a nod, Goten started carrying them away from the courtyard.

* * *

After their encounter with Kosumo and her two unknown friends, the Warriors and Videl had continued their trek toward the area where the drawings would be held. When they finally arrived, they had found that all the other fighters who had passed the premiliminaries were already there. Unsurprisingly to the Senshi, amongst the other participants was the Guardian of Cosmos and her two traveling companions.

The Budokai Announcer noticed them and smiled.

"Ah, you finally made it!" he said. He then looked down at the clipboard he was holding. "So, have all the entrances come together yet? Well then, let's call Mr. Satan up first."

Just then, one of the attendants drew up beside him and whispered, "Mr. Satan is having a rest. He said to have his drawing done for him."

"Really?" the Announcer replied, mystified. "Okay, that's what we'll do then."

He then turned to all of the contestants that would be competing in today's tournament.

"Attention everyone!" he said. "We will now hold the drawing to determine your match order! When your name is called, please come and draw one of these lots."

"Kami-sama, I beg of you!" Kuririn beseeched, his hands clasped and his head lowered. "Please don't let me face one of these guys in the first round!"

"Idiot," Amara muttered, shaking her head.

"Kuririn, have you forgotten?" Piccolo asked, amused. "It's not Kami-sama any more, it's Dende!"

"Oh, yeah!" Kuririn replied. "But that's okay! Kami-sama! Dende-sama!"

Meanwhile, Goku stepped forward to take a good look at all his potential opponents. His eyes roved from person and person, getting a feel on their power. His gaze then drifted across the area where they landed on a pair of men who were outrageously muscled, especially the larger of the two- a mean looking juggernaut who looked ready to tear into someone at that very moment. The Saiyajin vaguely wondered if they were family as they both had matching, strange-looking 'M' tattoos on their foreheads; whoever they were, though, they sure felt stronger than the average human, but still nothing for him to worry about As his gaze finally landed on Kosumo and her group, they lingered there a moment longer.

"Except for those three, there ain't anyone else all that great," he observed.

Overhearing him, the two muscular brutes glared fiercely at him. Goku stared back at them, nonplussed.

"What's with them?" he wondered. "Those two have a ominous air around them! It's like they've over-pumped up!"

His gaze next landed on...well, actually Goku didn't know how to describe it as. At least thought it was a human being underneath that mask and costume, the person's body just looked so awkward and uncoordinated.

"Huh? He's a fighter?" he asked incredulously. "With that unusual build?"

"So then, I will be calling you in Japanese alphabetical order," the Announcer told everyone. He looked down the clipboard closely. "Um, Contestant Amara..."

"Dear, you're up!" Kuririn said excitedly.

Not sharing the same excitement, Amara walked over to the drawing box where the Announcer and an attendant were. While she did, Juuhachi-gou quietly observed her. Reaching inside the box, Amara latched onto the first lot she grabbed and removed to hand it over to the Announcer.

"Okay, Amara is number 10."

Nearby, while one attendant wrote Amara's name in fifth block on a drawing board, another attendant relayed this information to another official through a radio telephone. In the arena where fans waited anxiously for the tournament to start back up, a wave of excitement flowed through the crowd when they saw the attendant in the ring writing on the board. They knew it could only mean that the matches of the first round in the Senior Division were finally underway.

"Contestant Killa-san!" the Announcer called next.

Hearing his name, the contestant known as Killa stepped forward toward the box, brimming with confidence. Reaching inside the box, he searched around through the lots, hoping to get a good spot in the tournament. At length, he drew his lot and looked down at it.

"Number 16."

Recieving the lot from him, the Announcer repeated it to the attendants, who placed Killa's name down under the appropriate spot.

"Next is Contestant Kibito, if you please?"

The Senshi immediately looked at attention when Kibito turned out to be the large comrade of Kosumo and her other companion. Their eyes followed the stern-faced Kibito as he walked over to the drawing board with a air of grace and dignity around him. Kibito drew his number.

"Um, number 7!" the Announcer said, while Kibito went to go rejoin his two comrades.

"Next is Contestant Kosumo..."

The Guardian of Cosmos sauntered over to the drawing box.

"Kosumo, huh? That's a fancy name," the Announcer remarked.

Kosumo didn't grace him with a response. Instead, she reached inside the box to draw her number. Like Amara did, she reached inside and pulled out the first lot she wrapped her hand around.

"Number 4," Kosumo said, and then handed the lot to the blonde-haired man.

"Er, Kosumo is number 4!" the Announcer told the attendants.

"Next is Contestant Kuririn..."

"Oh, me?" Kuririn replied. He darted over to the box and reached inside to pick a lot. "Please let this be a good number."

After some scrambling around, Kuririn finally pulled out a number. His face fell when he saw what it was.

"N-number 3! That means I have to face-" Kuririn let his words hung as he turned around to stare at dismay at Kosumo. Meeting his gaze, the mysterious woman smiled vaguely in amusement and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Next, Contestant Great Saiyaman!"

"Right!" Gohan said excitedly, walking over to the drawing box. Gohan drew his lot, with Videl watching with great interest. He drew his number. "Number 8! Huh-So I'll be facing that guy?" Gohan asked, when he saw his name get written under the same block next to Kibito.

As Gohan looked Kibito's way, Goku walked over to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful, Gohan," he advised. "That guy doesn't look like your average fighter."

"Ah, right," Gohan agreed. He looked toward his opponent in the tournament, who had his back turned to him. "He definitely doesn't seem average."

"Next is, er, Contestant Juuhachi-gou."

Both Vegeta and Amara looked up after hearing Juuhachi-gou's name being called, the latter observing with vested interest as her rival walked over to the box.

"Hey, is your name really Number 18?"

"Does it really matter?" Juuhachi-gou retorted. She tossed him the ball she had picked and began to walk away while saying, "Now I'm Number 1, if that's okay with you."

Juuhachi-gou didn't allow the chance to decide if that was okay or not, as she immediately sauntered away.

"Yes, Contestant Juuhachi-gou is number 1!" the Announcer informed.

Amara silently swore to herself, fuming that she wouldn't get to face her rival right away like she had hoped. Oh, well, she knew there was still a chance she would face her in the second round. But with so many formidable opponents, especially after she agreed not to use Super Saiyajin, she knew it was a slim chance.

"Next is Constestant Shin!"

"Yes."

More than one Senshi looked up with interest when they discovered that Shin was actually the short companion of Kosumo and Kibito. Walking with a air of grace that was even more refined than his companions', Shin moved over to the box. After a couple of moments of searching around, Shin finally grabbed a lot and pulled his hand out. He looked at the number.

"Number 14," Shin said.

"All right, Contestant Shin is number 14!"

Goku observed Shin earnestly. _*Shin, huh? That's definitely not a name I'm familiar with.*_

The drawing continued with adult tournament shaping up even more. Due to his hastiness, Koji didn't bother to ask the name of the man whose outfit he and Goten were wearing, which led to an embarrassing moment for the two. When Contestant Spopovich didn't step forward, both Koji and Goten figured it was them and went to go draw. However, they learned that they were actually Mighty Mask and the actual Spopovich, who didn't take too kindly to someone trying to take his turn, picked Mighty Mask up by the head and hurled him to the floor. It was then determined that Spopovich would be Number 6. Contestant Jewel was called up, and he drew Number 18. Then finally, Goku's name was called.

"Number 11, huh?" Goku said as he regarded his lot. He then looked toward the drawing board to see the attendant writing down his name in the sixth block, but the space for the second fighter in that block was still vacant. "My opponent still hasn't been decided, huh? I wonder who it'll be."

"Next is Contestant Videl!"

"Yes!" Videl answered, running over to draw her number. "What's the matter with Papa?"

"Er, Mr. Satan is having a rest," the Announcer explained.

Videl finally pulled a number. "Number 5!"

"H-hey, when she says Papa, you mean she's Mr. Satan daughter?" a stunned Goku was asking Gohan.

"Y-yeah that's right," Gohan answered.

"Ohh? I'd heard stories about him having a daughter," Kuririn said. "But they look nothing alike. She's pretty cute, after all."

Kuririn missed the look Amara tossed his way.

"W-well, I guess so," Gohan admitted, blushing.

"Contestant Punta is number 15! Next up, Contestant Vegeta!"

The Ouji's eyes cracked open when heard his name being called. Rising up to his feet, he walked over to the box and put his hand inside, gripping the first numbered sphere he touched. Pulling his hand out of the box, he took a look at his number. In the blink of an eye, the look of boredom on Vegeta's face changed into one of baleful fulfillment; those who knew him wondered if they should've already predicted something big was about to happen, when they heard the regal warrior's only-too recognizable malicious laugh. Finally whirling to face the others-no, to face one person in particular, he slowly and importantly thrust his arm out to reveal his number.

Vegeta had picked number 12, and that meant he would be facing Goku in the first round.

While the other Z-Senshi either gasped or gaped or do both, Juuhachi-gou simply raised a pale brow in interest. That might not have meant nothing to the average participants (or those far above average), but the Senshi they knew that Vegeta and Goku facing each other was something very big.

"V-Vegeta has Number 12!" Piccolo said, shocked.

"My, my, this tournament is going to be a lot more intriguing than I thought," Amara remarked, smirking.

"Aaaaa...Vegeta and Goku! Them fighting each other in the first round!" Kuririn exclaimed. "There probably might not even be a ring left for the second round after they're done!"

"Hey, our Papas are gonna fight," Koji whispered to Goten. "I wonder who'll win?"

"My Papa will, I'm sure of it," Goten said confidently.

"Fool! My Papa's gonna win," Koji retorted. "Your Papa's dead-um, well, you know what mean!"

"But Big Brother says Papa's been training in the afterlife."

Goku continued to stare at Vegeta for a moment, still trying to digest the fact that he and Vegeta were going to fight once again. He then smiled.

"Well, that's fine with me," he said seriously. "After all, I had also returned for the tournament in hopes of having a good fight. Fighting with Vegeta-san, I'm gonna get just that."

The Announcer next called Mighty Mask's name. With it being his actual turn now, Goten carried him and Koji back over to the box again. Koji reached inside and drew his lot.

"I got Number 2," Koji said. "So that means..." He and Goten both looked over to the drawing board to see who their opponent was. Both boys were stunned when they saw whose name was under Number 1.

"W-what! We got to face Juuhachi-gou-auntie from the get-go!" Goten asked. "Didn't she used to be stronger than both our Papas once a long time ago?"

"Y-yeah."

"Huh? What was that Mighty Mask-san?" the Announcer.

"Um, nothing!" Koji answered quickly, then Goten carried him and Koji off again. For a moment, it looked like they would trip, but Goten managed to maintain his balance.

Piccolo was called up next under his alias of Ma Junior. The Namekseijin went to draw his number, his eyes widened in surprise when he saw it was Number 13. And that put him in the same block as the mysterious Shin.

_*So, he's my opponent!* _Piccolo thought, his dark gaze flickering over to Shin. His eyes narrowed in determination. _*All right, then. I'll use this as a chance to find some things out.*_

Unexpectedly, Shin looked point-blank at him and gave him that cryptic smile of his. Piccolo stared back wide-eyed.

_*There's no need to worry so much, Piccolo-san,* _Shin said telepathically. _*I am not your enemy.*_

_*Y-You can read my mind?* _Piccolo returned, surprised. It wasn't because Shin had spoken to him in his mind that had surprised him so. After all, telepathy wasn't anything new, he and lots of others could do it. It was the fact that his opponent was such an enigma already, that finding out he could also read minds made him react that way. The green fighter's mien hardened. _*Who are you? What business do you have here?*_

_*In due time everything shall be revealed,* _Shin promised. _*But as I said, you don't have to fear anything from me. In fact, you were once like me, in a way, former Kami-sama.*_

Shock befall Piccolo again, however, Shin didn't notice as he had went back to conversing with his two comrades. So not only was Shin telepathic, but he also knew he was the old God for this world? Who was he really? Momently, Piccolo's eyes widened again as an abrupt realization hit him.

_*Wait a moment! Is it possible? Could this person really be...?*_

"Because he is unable to make it, I will draw for Mr. Satan, as instructed," the Announcer said. Reaching inside the box, he drew a lot. Turning to the nearby attendants, he said, "Mr. Satan is number 10!"

Kuririn's expression lit up. "Did you hear that Amara? Mr. Satan is your opponent!"

"I'm utterly thrilled," Amara said, the tone of her voice contradicting her words. It annoyed her that her brother was fortunate enough to face his rival right away, but instead she has to fight some worthless idiot.

"Ohhh, today doesn't seem like a good day for you," Videl told Amara with genuine sympathy, "if you have to face Papa so soon."

Amara looked at Videl derisively. "Hmph! If there's anyone you should be concerned about, little girl, it's your precious Papa."

"And finally, Contestant Yamu!" Yamu walked over to draw his number. Once he was finished, he handed the ball over to the Announcer. "Right! As expected, Number 17."

The Announcer then waved his hand grandly toward the drawing board. "The matches have finally been decided! The first match will be Contestant Juuhachi-gou vs. Contestant Mighty Mask. The second match will be Contestant Kuririn vs. Contestant Kosumo. The third match will be Contestant Videl vs. Contestant Spopovich. The fourth match will be Contestant Kibito vs. Contestant Gohan. The fifth match will be Contestant Amara vs. Contestant Mr. Satan. The sixth match will be Contestant Son Goku vs. Contestant Vegeta. The seventh match will be Contestant Shin vs. Contestant Piccolo. The eighth match will be Contestant Punter vs. Contestant Killa. And lastly, Contestant Yamu vs. Contestant Jewel."

"The matches will begin right away," he added as he walked off towards a nearby entrance. "I will lead you from here into the waiting room. Everyone knows the rules, I'm sure. Giving up, going down and having 10 counted, falling out of the ring, called the Bubutai, and killing your opponent will result in immediate defeat. Also, since we're holding so many matches, there is a 30-minute time limit on each match. If after 30 minutes has passed and the match has yet to be decided, a judgment will be imposed by the referee. And contestants...good luck!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	19. The Mystery of Mighty Mask

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but my own original characters.**

**Chapter Nineteen: The Mystery of Mighty Mask**

* * *

The sunlight glinted off the Announcer's dark shades as he began addressing the restless audience members on his signature microphone.

"Now that we've gotten the kiddies out of the way, it's now time for what you've all been waiting for- the main event itself!" His announcement was met by a sharp increase of excited cheers, of course. "Let's start things rolling with our first match-up. It'll be the mysterious Contestant Mighty Mask, taking on the weirdly named but gorgeous fighter, Contestant No. 18! So participants, come on down!"

Hearing her name being called, Juuhachi-gou headed towards the ring, with her husband and the other Z-Senshi watching her as she passed them by.

"Try not to hurt the poor guy too bad, Juuhachi-gou-san," Kuririn said with a laugh. Once again, he missed the glare Amara gave him for being so friendly toward the blonde woman, and as well as the one she fixed on Juuhachi-gou's back.

Over by the wall, within their Mighty Mask guise, Koji whispered to Goten, "Okay, Goten-san. Let's show the adults we're tough like they are!"

"Yeah!" Goten agreed in a hushed, yet excited tone.

However, when the boys looked up and started to leave, they briefly froze in place when they noticed their family members and friends staring at them. Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn looked a them in puzzlement, while Vegeta, Amara, and Piccolo regarded them with suspicious looks. Not needed to be told, Goten quickly carried both him and Koji out of the waiting room before anyone could figure who they were. Goten brushed past his father and brother, who protested at his rudeness with a collective "hey". Goku lifted a brow at Mighty Mask's retreating (and horrible looking) form.

"Is it just me or anyone else thinks he's strange?" Goku said, scratching his head like he always does whenever something puzzles him.

"It's amazing that he actually entertains the idea of masquerading around like a warrior with his disgustingly built body," Amara added.

"And how did he even punch a high enough score with those tiny arms?" Kuririn wondered, unconsciously mimicking Goku as he scratched his own hair.

While he didn't give his opinion on the matter aloud, of course, Vegeta was still starting to agree that there was just something off about this Mighty Mask character. He observed his mate's opponent critically. Earlier when he and everyone had been drawing numbers to decide how they'd be matched up in the tournament, as faint as the feeling had been, something about the masked warrior felt familiar to him. He'd been suspicious of Mighty Mask back then, though had decided to dismiss the creeping realization of just what the hooded fighter was all about. But now that the realization was starting to come back, Vegeta quickly latched onto it again, letting it expand and give him insight.

Meanwhile, in the ring, Juuhachi-gou was pondering the strangeness of her opponent as well (at the same time ignoring the whistles and catcalls from the male portion of audience, though allowing herself to listen to cheers she heard coming from Bulma and the rest of the gang), regarding him warily as he entered the ring. Her catlike eyes narrowed in a faint frown as she analyzed him. Sure, at first, Mighty Mask didn't really look like much, but Juuhachi-gou knew all-too well how looks can be deceiving. And despite the fact that the other warrior looked like he'd gotten a bad case of malnutrition, her instincts told her to keep her guard up and not take him _too _lightly.

On the other side of the ring, Koji was ecstatic underneath the Mighty Mask guise. Not only was he competing in the adult- like he'd originally wanted to- but this time he was going to face a worthy challenge of his time in the form of his mother. When his father hadn't been around to train him, his mother would substitute for him. The first time she had offered to train him (before she finally told him about her being a artificial human), he had arrogantly declined, saying she would get hurt trying to fight him. Man had he been proven wrong! But now, she was going to find out how tough he could be. And she wouldn't even know it was him and Goten that beat her when they won in the end.

"Hoshi-chan, do you know where Goten wandered off to?" Chichi asked the girl with a note of concern in her voice; Hoshi sat beside her, sipping on some juice. Well, the little girl had been until Chichi had asked her that question, making her freeze up in place and nearly choke. She couldn't possibly tell Chichi that Goten was with Koji inside the Mighty Mask costume, and that they were about to face Koji's mother- especially with Chichi's volcanic temper. Thinking swiftly, she grabbed onto the first lie her brain could come up with.

"Um...I haven't seen Goten since Koji beat Mr. Satan," she said with a small shrug of her shoulders.

"He's probably with Koji somewhere," Bulma offered, while feeding Bra her afternoon bottle at the same time. "But speaking of which, I haven't seen Koji either since his fight with Mr. Satan."

Worry and suspicion made Chichi scowl darkly. "Well, wherever he is, Goten better not be getting into trouble if he knows what's good for him!"

_*Oh, both he and Koji are about to get into a whole lot of trouble,* _Hoshi thought, as she began to drink some more of her juice. The corners of her lips managed to curl into a crooked smile around the straw in her mouth, as she sat and waited for what should be an interesting show to begin.

"All right, fighters, get ready!" the Announcer ordered, both Juuhachi-gou and Mighty Mask quickly lowering themselves in fighting stances. With a vertical chop of his hand, the blonde man hollered, _"Hajime!"_

Unlike some of the Z-Senshi, Juuhachi-gou wasn't the least bit surprised when Mighty Mask actually _flew_ across the ring towards her. And just what was there for her to be surprised about? She could do it, and so could her family and the other Senshi. What did surprise her, though, was how _fast_ he was. Not because of how quickly he covered the space between to get to her, but how swift he was with his punches as he swung his fists at her in in a volley, although she still dodged or blocked each attempted blow.

This immediately raised the interest of the Z-Senshi.

Seeing her chance, Juuhachi-gou struck out at her enigmatic opponent, putting him on the defensive this time. Koji and Goten managed to avoid most of the blows, but then there were others that just came too close to home for their comfort.

"Hm. That Mighty Mask person actually isn't that bad of a fighter," Goku commented, genuinely impressed. "He may be horribly built, but he's very quick."

"He's a little bit _too _quick, if you ask me," Vegeta said, scowling even deeper than he had been earlier.

"Yeah, for a human he's doing very well again Juuhachi-gou-san," Gohan added.

"I wonder if he's even a human at all," Piccolo said.

Hearing him, Amara briefly looked in the green warrior's direction before her gaze swung back on the fight. _*The Namek's right, no human- even if they were an above-average one like Kuririn- could fight so well against the Jinzouningen...The same Jinzouningen I still haven't been able to conquer.* _That last thought sent a surge of anger through her.

No, this Mighty Mask person definitely couldn't be a human. He just couldn't be! How could a human fair better than her!

"Well, this is a strange turn of events," Jewel remarked, from where he observed the battle through the window with Killa and Punta, their faces twisted in bewilderment. "Mighty Mask certainly couldn't fight like this at the last tournament. Who knew he had it in him?"

"Who knew such a babe could fight like that?" Punta said.

Overhearing their conversation, Vegeta's suspicion about Mighty Mask grew even more

Meanwhile, further back in the room, Yamu and Spopovich were watching he competitors battling outside with extreme interest. And all the while, they never noticed that they were under the watchful scrutiny of three other participants.

_*What is this strange feeling?" _Juuhachi-gou was asking herself while she went after foe relentlessly. _"It's like I've fought him somewhere before, but I just can't put my finger on it.*_

"To the left-No, Goten, to the right!" Koji told him, while trying to dodge his mother's ferocious attack.

"Hey, I can't see good as you down here!" Goten complained.

As Juuhachi-gou went for an uppercut, Koji nearly fell off Goten's shoulders trying to avoid it, but they managed to keep him from falling. Those with acute awareness noticed that.

"Did you all just see that?" Kuririn asked, blinking at Mighty Mask in befuddlement.

"Yeah," Piccolo agreed, his eyes narrowing. "It looked as if the upper part of his body was about to fall off a second there."

"I noticed that, too," Gohan said, a dawning suspicion starting to swirl to life in the back of his head.

"What's up with that guy?" Goku wondered, looking a bit serious.

"So I was right! It is them!" All of the Warriors looked around when they heard Vegeta's gruff voice. The Prince didn't really look particularly happy- of course, it was no surprise to the ones who knew him.

"What are you talking about now, Vegeta?" Amara asked.

"I'm talking about Mighty Mask!" Vegeta growled. "That's not the _real _Mighty Mask."

"It isn't?" Goku asked. Vegeta glowered in utter contempt.

"No, you baka! That's Koji and Goten out there!"

"What!" the other warriors exclaimed.

"Vegeta-san, are you serious?" Gohan inquired.

"If you all don't believe me, then just look out there!" Vegeta pointed towards the ring, and the rest of the group followed his outstretched finger just in time to see Mighty Mask rise into the air, just narrowly avoiding a roundhouse kick from Juuhachi-gou that really looked like it would've hurt if it had've made contact.

"Well, I guess that explains that," Kuririn said, frowning.

"I can't believe those two!" Gohan said, outraged. "They know it's against the rules for them to compete in the adult tournament! If Mom finds out, she'll skin Goten alive!"

"What should we do?" Kuririn asked, confused. "Shouldn't we tell Juuhachi-gou it's time?"

There was a brief, thoughtful pause among the group.

"I think we shouldn't," Amara suggested, a crooked smile splitting her gorgeous face.

Kuririn looked at his wife as if she'd just grown another head. "But honey..." he started to protest.

"She's right," Vegeta agreed, a slow smile sliding across his face. "Yes, I think it will be amusing to see how strong the boys really are."

And in some unconscious agreement, all the Warriors turned back to see how their startling discovery would unfold.

Outside, Juuhachi-gou finally kicked herself up into the air and rocketed after her opponent to continue the fight. Seeing his mother rapidly approaching them, Koji let out a battle cry, and he and Goten flew down to meet her head on. When the two had reached each other, the fists and feet quickly went to flying again. Back and forth the two went. It was clear for anyone to see: both competitors were very determined in winning this bout to progress further in the tournament, and would let nothing get in their way.

"Wow, Koji and Goten are really doing good out there," Goku commented, wearing a grin of excitement like always he does whenever he was watching a good fight- or was in one.

"What in the world's going on? I can barely see anything," Kuririn said, sounding slightly annoyed as Juuhachi-gou and Mighty Mask were nothing more than blurs to him.

"Oo! Koji or Goten just landed a mean looking punch to Juuhachi-gou," Gohan remarked, wincing. He winced again when Juuhachi-gou instantly retaliated with a vicious kick to the side of Mighty Mask's head.

"Koji and Goten are incredibly strong for being children," Piccolo remarked. With an askance look to Gohan he added, "They're even a lot stronger than the you were at their ages, Gohan."

The Great Saiyaman blushed a bit beneath his shades at his mentor's words. "Well...I still managed to get by," he replied.

"Hey, Gohan!"

The half-Saiyajin teen blushed for a different reason behind his glasses, as a all-too familiar, feminine voice drifted into the room. Whirling halfway, he saw Videl drawing up in front of him with a small smile on her face.

"Oh, hi Videl-san," he greeted. "Where did you wander off to?"

"I just went to go see how Dad was doing," Videl replied. She looked as if she was about to say something else, however, as soon as she gazed outside and saw Juuhachi-gou and Mighty Mask moving faster than the speed of light. "What in the world is that?"

"Oh, that's just Juuhachi-gou-san fighting up there with Mighty Mask," Gohan said, although he was embarrassed to tell her it was her brother and his best friend out there fighting the cyborganic woman.

Videl barely paid any attention to him. She was too busy goggling at the two specks going at it above her. To herself she said, _*Sugoi. I never knew Mighty Mask could really fly before! Or fight like that!*_

"Owwwwwww!" Koji and Goten chorused as they were knocked backwards from a gut punch (Goten's face)-savate kick to the face combo. The two stopped themselves.

"Damn! We're getting nowhere with this, Goten," Koji growled in frustration. "Okaasan's a strong fighter, that's for sure."

"You aren't trying hard enough," Goten said in an accusatory tone. "I know she's your Mom, but you still have to try your best!"

Koji look down at his friend in annoyance. "Hey, at least I've managed to get in a punch. You've done squat since the fight begin. So until you can land even one kick, you try harder!"

"I'm trying, but I can't see anything down there!" Goten protested.

"We shouldn't be fighting with each other right now, Goten," Koji said with surprising seriousness. Then he smiled as an idea came to him. "Oi, listen, if you can land at least one hit on Mom...then I'll buy you lots of toys with the prize money, okay?"

"Really? You'll give me some of your toys if I can?" Goten asked, excitedly, his legs wiggling in excitement. "Oh, boy! I'll do it!"

Juuhachi-gou saw that and she raised her fists, readying herself for whatever her opponent seemed to have up his sleeve.

"Ready, Goten? Let's do it!" Koji said.

The two rushed back at Juuhachi-gou. The cyborg had thought she'd been prepared for Mighty Mask, but she was caught off guard as her opponent was fighting with more fervor than he had a second ago, and it was all she could do to block the savage flurry of blows coming towards her. All of a sudden, Goten managed to get a kick in to Juuhachi-gou's midsection, causing her to double over, which gave Koji the chance to deliver a hard right to the side of his mother's face, sending her flying back towards the ring. Juuhachi-gou was a hairsbreadth away from crashing on the ring, when she suddenly pulled on the brakes, due to her cybernetic reflexes, the abrupt motion of her stop sent a circle of backdraft everywhere. It got inside the entrance building, causing some of the competitors to cough.

_*Strange. I can't predict his next move as easily as I'd been to earlier on in our fight," _she thought, while frowning up at her peculiar foe. _"And why do I still feel as if I've faced this guy before._ _Who is he?*_

"That was a great punch just then, Koji-kun!" Goten praised his friend.

"Hey, that was nothing, we're just getting started!" Koji told him, then lunged back towards his mother.

With a growl in the back of her throat, Juuhachi-gou leapt up and rushed back into the battle. Mighty Mask met up with her, his (well, their) fist and feet already swinging. Juuhachi-gou didn't know what it was, but something had definitely changed about her opponent in last past minutes. Yeah, he'd been fighting hard in the early beginning of their fight, though now he seemed to be fighting even harder and was surprisingly doing a pretty good job of keeping her on the defensive. No matter how much she hated it, all she could do right now was defend. After all, while she may wanted to win this match, she didn't want to have to go all the way out and accidentally kill her opponent...if she could help it.

"Oh, no," Bulma said, looking genuinely worried for her friend," she's in trouble!"

"Come on, Juuhachi-gou! Hang tough!" Chichi shouted encouragingly, nearly falling over in the process.

"All right, we're winning!" Koji cheered.

"Yeah!" Goten agreed with a growl. "So don't forget you still owe me a toy!"

Juuhachi-gou's expression twisted in cold anger. She was not about to lose to some human! She flew forward to meet them again, but this time she easily broke through their defenses and slammed a hard right fist into her opponent's face. As Mighty Mask went hurtling earthward and smashed into the ring at super sonic speed, blowing up dust and rock fragments, the blonde woman was once again hit with that strange feeling of deja-vu.

The Announcer walked a bit nervously over towards the gaping hole in the ring; he just knew that fall just then had to really hurt.

"Say, Mighty Mask, do you give up?" he asked.

In the next instant, he got his answer as something shot up out of the crater and touched down beside him. The announcer and the majority of the audience were surprised, amazed and impressed even, to see Mighty Mask still standing after his fall just then.

"No way!" Goten told the announcer before he shot back up into the air.

Once they'd reach Juuhachi-gou's air level again, Goten and Koji started circling around Juuhachi-gou over and over again. Juuhachi-gou gasped as she soon realized what was going on, while turning her head this way and that in attempt to keep up with her strange opponent's movement.

_*What's this? His tactic has changed drastically* _she said, sounding uncharacteristically dismayed.

Seeing their chance, the boys rushed in at Juuhachi-gou. She tried to dodge, but Koji caught her with a kick to her gut, and Goten further stunned her with hard right to the face, sending her flying back. Juuhachi-gou was able to stop herself after tumbling backwards three times, however, she wasn't able to recover as Goten and Koji were instantly on her tail again. The two were relentless as they struck at Juuhachi-gou; the Jinzouningen tried her best to block them but she soon found herself overwhelmed again and was sent flying after another right. Goten and Koji tried to follow up, but Juuhachi-gou stopped them in their tracks quickly with a ki blast. The boys quickly moved out of the way.

"There's something not right about this freak!" Juuhachi-gou told herself.

That unsettled her. If she was actually panting, it was a testament to how powerful Mighty Mask really was, and much harder she was having to work in this fight. But what was she going to do? Everything she's tried so far hasn't worked. She still hasn't been able to put Mighty Mask away.

What was it going to take for her to put him away? Could she even do it? What if...she actually lost to him?...

Then Juuhachi-gou remembered exactly why she was there in the first place. She just couldn't lose this match! If she did, she'd be out of the tournament, and wouldn't be able to win any prize money so that she and her family wouldn't have to depend so heavily on Briefs' and their money for a while. Sure, Vegeta could still go on to win the tournament, but he was so busy with fighting Goku that he didn't care one bit about winning the money to provide for his family for a change. Just the thought of that enraged the Jinzouningen, but she didn't let her rage get the better her like her lover let himself most often than not. She sharpened and focused her anger, feeling it all around her like some invisible aura. She was not going to lose!

"I will win this for sure!" she told herself, determination burning in her blue eyes as she glared over at Mighty Mask. "I tried to be nice and go easy on him, because I didn't want to accidentally hurt him and be disqualified. But now it's time to take the kids gloves off just a bit, and show him he's nowhere even close to me."

* * *

Pui Pui was sulking. It hadn't set well with the alien warrior that his master, who he's served for years, would overlook him for two humans of all things to take care of the task of collecting energy for the sleeping Majin Buu.

It just wasn't right! He was far superior than those two humans and every other human on this planet for this matter. Those two insects hadn't even returned yet or even gathered any energy for Buu from what he'd heard from Babidi in a earlier meeting. Hah! More proof his superiority over the human race! He would've gotten enough energy within the matter of a couple of hours and been back before anyone could even miss him.

Pui Pui sighed. As much as he hated Babidi's decision to let Yamu and Spopovich do his selected task, there was nothing he could do about it. He certainly wasn't going to argue with the sorcerer about it. All he could really do now is hoped they fail miserably and Babidi greet them with a instant, hideous death once they returned. Pui Pui smiled at that thought.

"Why Pui Pui, you're still standing here pouting?" mocked a familiar voice.

The ailen's yellow eyes narrowed as he looked up to see the Dabura, walking on the same hallway he was on. The demon drew up a small distance away from him.

"Leave me be, Dabura!" Pui Pui said irritably.

"What's wrong? Are you so afraid the two humans, Spopovich and Yamu, will succeed in take your place?" Dabura asked.

"Ha! Hardly," Pui Pui answered with a snarling laugh. "Master Babidi would never say that a couple of stupid humans are better than me!"

"If that's so, then how come he sent them instead of you?" Dabura countered.

Pui Pui's lips curled into a snarl as she glared coldly at the demon. "Watch it, Dabura! And I wouldn't get so full of myself if I were you. You think you have it made as Babidi's right-hand man, but as we both know, when Babidi's use for someone doesn't last for very long, he gets rid of them. So, who's to say Babidi won't find someone who he deems better than you and have you replaced, huh?"

The ailen grinned as Dabura's expression became clouded after his words. Then, in the next moment, Dabura's expression cleared again and he smirked haughtily at his fellow Majin warrior.

"That maybe true, but we both know that Babidi loves to keep powerful people in his company," Dabura replied. "And since we both know who's the strongest out of you and me, which one of us will be the most useful in the long run?"

With that said, Dabura walked passed Pui Pui and moved further up the hallway. Pui Pui glared at the demon's back as he watched him go...hating the fact that he was absolutely right.

* * *

It was a very determined and very angry Juuhachi-gou that charged back into battle. Very confident after gaining the upperhand on the powerful Jinzouningen, Koji and Goten rushed in to meet her head-on, but found themselves dealing with a different Juuhachi-gou. Swinging blow after blow at her opponent in a furious frenzy; she was moving so quickly now that to the untrained eye she looked like a mere blur against the fake Mighty Mask. But all the while she still continued to hold a good amount of her power back was that while she did want to beat Mighty Mask up, she still didn't want to get disqualified by killing him either.

"Wow, look at Juuhachi-gou go up there," Gohan said in awe. "She's really angry now."

"Apparently, Juuhachi-gou's realized that she can't take her opponent-or should I say _opponents_?- too lightly anymore, and isn't holding any back," Piccolo said perceptively.

"Ut-oh, Koji. The look in your mother's eyes are completely different!" Goten said frantically, while trying to block Juuhachi-gou's furious blows, which wasn't very easy to do now that she was angry. "She's not playing anymore!"

"Don't pay attention to that," Koji told him, while doing his best to block each blow his mother swung in his direction. "If you lose this for us, you're not getting a toy!"

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can but I can't do it all by myself!" Goten protested.

However, their arguing had soon left an opening for the Jinzouningen to strike. Juuhachi-gou didn't disappoint, and swung her right fist hard and fast at Mighty Mask, connecting when his face.

"Iie, Goten! You idiot!" Koji cried in dismay when Goten started to fall backwards.

"HIYYAHHH!" Juuhachi-gou screamed before slamming a hard clasped punch to Mighty Mask's stomach (which was actually Koji's face).

The boys screamed as they went plummeting back toward the ring, where they landed no to far from the first crater they made, and made a crash that sounded a lot more severely painful than the last. Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn had winced at the bone-jarring impact the boys had made.

"Ooh, that had to hurt," Hoshi said to herself, witnessing.

"Oh, my, folks! Mighty Mask has fallen again and I don't think he can get up this time," said the Announcer. "So, I guess the winner of this match will be-wha?"

The announcer had stopped in sentence, when something suddenly exploded out of the crater beside him and made a beeline toward Juuhachi-gou.

"I don't believe it, Mighty Mask has gotten up again," the Announcer said in shock. "This is a perseverance he's never shown at any of the previous tournaments."

Seeing Mighty Mask swiftly approaching her, Juuhachi-gou decided to strike first and fired a strong blast of pink energy.

"Heads up, Goten! Incoming energy blast," Koji warned.

As Koji arched his back and spread his arms out, Goten curled his legs upward and backwards, and the two successfully dodged Juuhachi-gou's energy blast as it shot underneath them. The energy blast hurtled out of the sky and slammed onto one of the edges of the ring, destroying a good portion of that.

"Man, if they keep this up, there won't be a ring left for the rest of us to fight in," Jewel complained.

Back up in the air, Juuhachi-gou was having a staredown with her nemesis, unaware that the blue eyes she was staring into was that of her son.

"We can't win like this," Koji told Goten. "Especially with this suit on. It's only leaving us a disadvantage!" *_I knew mom was tough, but I didn't know she was THIS tough!*_

"How about we go Super Saiyajin, Koji?" Goten suggested.

"Great idea, Goten!" Koji enthusiastically agreed. "No one won't even know it's us, anyone."

Juuhachi-gou's eyes narrowed suspiciously when she saw Mighty Mask grinning. He was up to something, but what was it?

_*But whatever it is, I won't let myself get caught off guard,* _she told herself.

She matched Mighty Mask's movement perfectly, as he tried to circle around her. She was going to be ready for anything he tried to throw at her.

"Ready, Goten?" Koji asked.

"Yeah!" Goten answered.

"All right! Let's do it!" On Koji's words, both boys let out kiai shouts, then simultaneously the boys transformed underneath their Mighty Mask guise.

Juuhachi-gou's expression melted into surprise, when she saw gold fire erupt from around Mighty Mask's body. Below in the audience, people erupted in more gasps and exclamations of shock.

"What in the world is going on now?" one man asked.

"He's glowing! How in the world is he able to do that?" another man asked.

In another part of the crowd, Hoshi almost wanted to slap her forehead in frustration. *_Ut-oh. Those two are in for it now.*_

Beside her, Muten Roshi was looking a bit smug. _*Heh, so I was right about Mighty Mask all along.* _

"Well, well, it would seem that those brats' luck have finally run out," Vegeta said. "By transforming, they might've as well have told Juuhachi-gou their names."

"You're right about that," Gohan agreed. "It shouldn't be long now before Juuhachi-gou starts putting two and two together."

Back up in the air, that was exactly what Juuhachi-gou's brain was starting to do. After having a small family of Saiyajin and being in contact with with other full-blooded and half-blooded Saiyajin, Juuhachi-gou knew that Super Saiyajin aura anywhere and right away realized what was going on. She should've expected her mischievous son would pull a stunt like this when he was told that he wouldn't be able to compete in the adult tournament. Knowing that her son was too short and small to wear the Mighty Mask costume by himself, and also from the familiarness of the boots the so-called Mighty Mask was wearing, Goten was acting as the legs. No wonder Mighty Mask's body seemed so weird! Juuhachi-gou smirked at it all.

"I get it, now," she said. "No wonder I've been having so much trouble putting Mighty Mask away. I've been fighting a Super Saiyajin all this time. Nice try boys, but I've figured out your little secret." Her expression turned pure wicked after that line; they wanted to fight with the grownups so bad, well now she was going to remind them of exactly where their place was.

"Let's end this Goten," Koji said, looking extremely serious underneath the mask.

"I sure hope we can, Koji-kun," Goten answered, a tone of worry flavoring his voice. "Your mother's so tough, though."

"Look, we'll be just fine, Koji assured him, while he spread both his arms out and started gathering power in each palm. "You just watch my back and I'll watch yours. Got it?"

"Yeah!"

And Koji fired. Juuhachi-gou's expression turned into pure shock at the intense blast heading towards her. Acting fast, she quickly moved to the side and let the blast fly on by. The ki blast flew completely out of both the arena and landed somewhere beyond the city. A instant later, an enormous explosion erupted; fire and smoke briefly climbed towards the bottom of the sky before it almost quickly dispersed and was replaced by a thick, mushroom cloud.

"Dammit!" Koji swore, snapping his fingers in annoyance.

There was a communal outcry of shock from nearly everyone in the arena, including all of the Z-Senshi. In the background, the eyes of Shin, Kibito, and Kosumo widened simultaneously, then the trio exchanged knowing looks and nods.

No one was as shocked as Juuahchi-gou herself, however, as she was gawping at her disguised son and his best friend as if she'd never seen them before.

_*Y-you have got to be kidding!" _she thought in amazed disbelief. _*That ki blast had absolutely destructive power and incredible speed! I had no idea that they were this strong. Maybe I've been underestimating them. This is dangerous!*_

It was quite a surprise to the normally unruffled woman to discover that these two young boys were this powerful. That blast of energy that had just been fired had been strong enough to destroyed this entire arena...and maybe even her as well, had she not moved out of the way in time. Just the thought that she could've just been destroyed was very unsettling for her...almost frightening, even.

_*I must put an end to this match now, before things get even more out of hand than it already has,* _she told herself.

Then she said, "That'll be enough of that out of you, Koji and Goten. This is match is mine to win!"

Underneath the Mighty Mask guise, the two half-Saiyajin yelped in surprise and their eyes widened into saucers.

"Ut-oh! She knows!" they chorused in panic.

While they were stunned about getting found out, Juuhachi-gou opted to move into action. As she made her way toward them, she raised her right hand and formed a small energy disc. Seeing that, Koji and Goten tried to run away, but unfortunate for them they were both trying to run in the opposite direction, just as Juuhachi-gou knew they would, and this gave her the opening to toss the modified Kienzan at them. The disc sawed through the space between them and neatly cut through the middle of the costume, slicing the costume into two, and in the process revealing Koji, who was still wearing the upper part of the Mighty Mask costume, and also Goten, who was sticking up out of the pants.

The audience (those who hadn't known before hand that Mighty Mask was being impersonated by two boys) and the Announcer cried out in shock again.

"Whoa! I don't believe it," exclaimed the Announcer. "Mighty Mask's been snapped in half!"

"Snapped in half, nothing! That's Goten up there!" Chichi screeched after almost immediately recognizing her son.

"And the other one must be, Koji," Bulma said, shaking her head. "His mother must be pretty annoyed with him right now."

Bulma's point was proven to be correct, for back up in the air, an angry-looking Juuhachi-gou drifted over to the two young half-Saiyajin and promptly ripped the upper part of the destroyed Mighty Mask costume off her son. Koji grinned sheepishly back at his mother.

"Um, hiya, Mom," he said.

"Don't you, hiya Mom, me!" Juuhachi-gou snapped, glaring sharply at her son. "What the hell were you think you're doing just then! You know you aren't allowed to fight in the adult tournament!"

Thinking it was time for him to get away and fast, Koji suddenly said, "Oh, wow! Mom, look at that!"

"What?" Juuhachi-gou actually looked around, and as she did so, Koji grabbed a hold of Goten's arm and dragged him off as he flew away at top speed. Realizing it had been a trick, Juuhachi-gou whirled back around, only to see the two half-Saiyajin putting a good distance between them. "Koji! You get back here!"

"Goten! Where do you think you're going? You get back here this instance, young man!" Chichi was shouting as well from below, never noticing Hoshi shaking her head beside her, or her oldest son doing the same thing down below near the main entrance. Beside him, Goku was half-laughing in amusement.

But neither of the boys did listen, as they were very well aware that they were deep trouble now and didn't want to suffer the repercussions of what came with them sneaking into the adult tournament. Soon, both Juuhachi-gou and Chichi stopped calling for her sons to come back, as they knew as far as the two boys would try to go to hide from her, they'd have to come back sooner or later. And while no one had been looking, Hoshi had snuck away from Chichi and the others and followed after her cousin and her friend.

After a long moment of standing in stunned amazement over what he'd just witnessed, the Announcer found his voice again.

"Due to two people fighting as one as Mighty Mask, your winner by disqualification, Contestant Juuhachi-gou!" Mentally, he added, *_No matter how many times I see Goku and his friends fighting like that, I'll never get used to it. But at least it's a hell of a lot more exciting watching them than Mr. Satan fight, that's for sure_!*

"Yatta!"

"All right, Juuhachi-gou! Way to go, girl!"

"Woo-hoo! Way to go, Juuhachi-gou!"

That was Bulma, Chichi, and Gyu Mao, comending the blonde woman on a job well done. Oolong and Yamucha added in their own cheers, with Bra giggling and Muten Roshi sitting back silently, wearing a complacent smile on his wizened face, as he known who Mighty Mask had been all alone. For a time, people stared at the group as if they were insane to have not just seen how Juuhachi-gou and Mighty Mask's match was anything but normal. However, gradually, the optimism of the Z-Gang started to spread, and soon the level of the cheering started to rise until it was almost deafening.

Unfortunately, Juuhachi-gou ignored them all, as she descended back onto the ring. She hadn't even heard the Announcer declare her the winner of the match. To be truthful, she wasn't exactly feeling praiseworthy at the match, anyhow. In fact, even after she'd just won, she felt angry- angrier than she's been in a long while.

The anger really had nothing to do with discovering that Koji had snuck into the adult tournament when he knew it was against the rules; it had actually spawned from the startling observation she'd made about her son and Goten. They were powerful, VERY powerful. Yes, she already knew they were quite strong from watching their match earlier, but she hadn't really given them that much credit until now. They were so strong that they'd actually made her work a lot harder than she'd originally intended to for this match. And that bothered her greatly for some reason.

Sure, it would be so easy for her to say that she hadn't even known that Koji and Goten were even Mighty Mask, and that's why she'd had a hard time with him. But the Jinzouningen in her wouldn't allow her to take the easy way. It was furious at the fact that her son and his friend, who were both only seven, were at her power level. Or were they actually even stronger than her? Was Hoshi this powerful, too?

Juuhachi-gou unnoticeably shook her head to clear it, as she finally started to make her exit off the ring, absently brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Why is it bothering me so, that Koji might be stronger than me? I want him to be strong, don't I? Why else would I go through the trouble of teaching him how to fight if I didn't. Vegeta's a whole lot more powerful than me now and I don't even as she tried to make the thought sound reasonable in her head, it sent another twinge of anger surging through her.

So wrapped up in her thoughts, she was vaguely aware she'd just stepped back into the waiting entrance and walked passed Goku, Gohan, and Videl.

"Oi, good going out there, Juuhachi-gou-san," Goku commended, trying to sound friendly.

Those were not the words Juuhachi-gou needed to hear right now, especially from the man who she had been created to kill.

Automatically, Juuhachi-gou stopped in her footsteps, her body swiftly wounding tight with rage. Looking over her shoulder, she fixed Goku with a glare so frigid, that not even the lava of a volcano could ever hope to heat it up. Goku winced from her look and backpedaled a step, shivering inwardly as he could literally feel the coldness emanating from her catlike eyes. Gohan and Kuririn even cringed from Juuhachi-gou glare, despite the fact that it wasn't even directed at them. Meanwhile, Vegeta had observed the exchange with veiled amusement.

Then, without so much as a word to anyone, Juuhachi-gou turned her head back around, stuffed her hands in her pockets, and shuffled outside through the back entrance of the waiting area. Everyone else in the room watched her go with various feelings.

"Now, I wonder what got into her?" Kuririn asked.

In the far back of the room, the one known as Shin looked gravely over at Kosumo and their other companion Kibito, who were both looking just as serious.

"I can see it," Kosumo said gravely. "A darkness growing in her heart and all around her."

"Should we do something?" Kibito inquired.

"No, for now we don't have to do anything," Shin answered. "As long as she never goes around that wretched warlock, she'll be fine. We can't afford to let someone like her join his side."

Both Kibito and Kosumo nodded in understanding.

Meanwhile, another private conversation had been going on on the other side of the room.

"Yamu, did you see that?" Spopovich asked, grinning wickedly. "Those two little brats pack quite the power. Why don't you say we go steal their energy?"

"I was about to suggest that, but then something occurred to me," Yamu replied.

"What do you mean?" Spopovich asked.

"Take a look at those people over there," Yamu told him. Spopovich followed Yamu's finger when he saw him pointing over towards the Z-Senshi.

"So, what about 'em?"

"Well, one of those brats strongly favored the guy in the orange and black over there. I'm pretty sure it's his Dad," Yamu supplied. "So, if that brat is powerful, just imagine how strong his father is. And I bet those he's hanging around with are powerful, too."

Spopovich grinned even nastier. "I get what you're sayin', now."

Yamu smirked evilly back at his friend. "We just keep waiting, and when it's their turn...then we strike!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	20. A Debt Repaid

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but I do own my original characters.**

**Chapter Twenty: A Debt Repaid**

* * *

"It's now time for the second match-up to begin," the Budokai Announcer was saying to the fans, as the tournament rolled on, "and it will feature Contestant Kuririn taking on the lovely newcomer, Contestant Kosumo. Without ado, come on out participants!"

Kuririn gulped at the announcement.

"Well, it's my turn now," he said, his voice completely lacking in confidence.

"This should be brief," Vegeta remarked with a disdainful chuckle.

"Kuririn-san, don't sound so discouraged before the fight even begins," Goku said encouragingly. "I'm sure if you try your hardest, you'll do good out there."

"That's easy for you to say Goku-kun," Kuririn complained, still sounding diffident. "You don't know what Kosumo-san's capable of. I do!"

"Is she really that strong?" the dead Saiyajin asked inquisitively.

"Very," Piccolo said concisely.

"Hey, Gohan?"

"Yeah?" Gohan turned to Videl when he heard her call to him.

"Why is your friend Kuririn so afraid of this Kosumo woman?" she asked in a voice that only he could hear (well, a certain Namekseijin could hear as well if chose, too), while looking over at the woman where she was taking with her friends Shin and Kibito. "Is she that strong?"

"Well..." While Gohan went into trying to answer his friend's question as best as he could, Kuririn was trying to inject some assertiveness into his voice.

"Okay, guys, here I go," Kuririn said. He then looked toward his wife and said, "Wish me luck out there, babe!"

Amara glowered at Kuririn for calling her that, but he never saw it as he turned to head out to the ring. Kuririn had just got to the entryway, when he noticed that Kosumo was walking alongside him and heading in the same direction. He stopped to look at her. Kosumo saw this, stopped as well, and looked back down at him. She flashed him a friendly smile.

"Good luck, Kuririn-san," she told him, then continued on out to the ring.

"Yeah, I'm going to need it," Kuririn said pessimistically and followed her out.

Shortly, both Kosumo and the ex-monk were standing in the ring on opposite sides, facing each other, while they waited for the Budokai Announcer to officially start the match.

After a pause, the blonde Announcer slashed his hand down in a vertical chop and shouted, "Hajime!"

Having gathered up as much courage he could, Kuririn screamed out a battle cry and charged at his adversary at full-speed. He punched and kicked, with Kosumo either blocking or evading with ease, favoring him with a sweet simper the whole time. But then shockingly, when Kuririn rushed back in for a flying kick, Kosumo backflipped out of the way to avoid it...landing neatly on her feet right outside the ring.

An outburst of astonishment and confusion immediately followed, as no one could comprehend what had just happened right away. Standing in the ring, Kuririn was blinking at his opponent in stupefaction. Those inside the waiting room were looking on in differing levels of surprise, though none seemed to be as surprised as Shin and Kibito.

Kosumo herself looked amused by it, not caring that she had just lost. She looked toward the Announcer.

"I think you announce him as the winner now," she told him, before turning around and walking away nonchalantly.

"Um, er..." the Announcer said over the microphone, trying to get his brain back into gear like most of the audience were after what just happened. "Due to Contestant Kosumo falling out of bounds, Contestant Kuririn is the winner!"

Bulma and her party were the first one to snap out of their stupor and applauded and cheered their friend. It began to catch on to the other fans, and soon the whole arena was applauding Kuririn. Realizing that he had somehow he managed not to lose, Kuririn thrust his fist in victory; hey, a victory was a victory.

"Incredible," Piccolo said, an expression of disbelief on his face.

"She felt sorry for him and threw the match," Amara said, shaking her head. Her and some of the others looked over to where Shin and Kibito were standing, as Kosumo had just rejoined him.

"What was that all about that?" Kibito was asking the Guardian of Cosmos in a low voice.

Kosumo smiled. "He was trying so hard, I didn't have the heart to beat him."

Shin chuckled a bit in amusement. "It's all right. After all, winning the tournament is not why we're here."

* * *

Not too far from the building where fighters waited to be called on for their match, Juuhachi-gou stood against a brick wall, her arms across over her chest. She vaguely heard Kuririn being announced as the winner of his and Kosumo's match, and as well as the Announcer starting to announce the next match featuring Spopovich and Mr. Satan's daughter, Videl. Frankly, she was too lost in her own thoughts to really care what was happening in the rest of the tournament.

Since discovering that it had been her very own son and Goten hidden underneath Mighty Mask's costume, Juuhachi-gou still hadn't been able to get over it. It wasn't the fact that Koji and Goten had disobeyed the rules and snuck into the adult tournament that was bothering her. It was the fact that she could've actually been beaten out there in that match that was disturbing the Jinzouningen.

Before her and her brother had even known about Gero's secret pet project: Cell, her and her brother had always prided themselves of being hits two ultimate creations who both possessed great speed and power of the highest perfection. So it had been a shock to their systems, when Cell, Gero's last android, had appeared, and ironically enough had came due to his main objective, which was to absorb both her and her brother to reach his own perfection. Even the Saiyajin: Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan, and also the Namekseijin Piccolo had grown more powerful than both her and her brother. Was Amara more powerful than her now, too?

A bitter, thin smile curled Juuhachi-gou's lips as she could just imagine that the Saiyajin Princess had thoroughly enjoyed her struggle against Mighty Mask, and even more so when turned out to be a couple of kids. She could just bet that the Princess was feeling very smug with herself and quite confident should another fight were to ever arise between them...and it made her sick. She didn't like the thought that if she were to fight Amara at this point in time that the Saiyajin woman would actually have a high percentage of winning. After all, she's been training nearly as hard as Vegeta had been doing all these seven years.

Being a wife and mother has really softened her up. What's happened? She used to be untouchable...nearly invincible, and yet now little children were giving her a run for her money.

"Videl!"

Juuhachi-gou looked up when she suddenly heard the wail of horror. She automatically knew that belonged to Gohan. Had she been THAT lost in thought. Something interesting must be going on out there. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, Juuhachi-gou went to go see what was going on.

"Videl!" Gohan screamed. For the moment, it was the only thing that he really could do. He stood helplessly between his father and Piccolo, watching in stunned horror as Videl's lithe form hit the hard surface of the ring with a horrible-sounding crash that sounded much worse than when Koji and Goten had crashed twice during their battle against Juuhachi-gou earlier. Those two could take that kind of treatment. Videl couldn't.

The spectators were just as appalled, erupting in gasps and cries of aghast and disgust as they had to witness the daughter of their most cherished hero get brutally beaten by her colossal opponent. Up in the bleachers, beside Bulma, all the blood had drained from Chichi's face, as she watched what she was hoping to be her future daughter-in-law's battered and completely beaten body lying dreadfully motionless in the center of the ring. During it all, Juuhachi-gou had re-entered the waiting room. Stopping beside Vegeta, who fleetingly glanced her way, she saw what everyone else was seeing.

Spopovich leered maliciously as he hovered ominously over Videl's small, unmoving form, showing off a row of square-like teeth. He took sick pleasure in watching the daughter of Mr. Satan lay deathly still at his feet. He knew she wasn't dead from the way he noticed the slow rise and fall of her chest. And to him, that was a very good thing...because it meant that he got to prolong her torture and his revenge.

With one enormous hand, he reached down and picked her up by the front of her shirt, raising the unconscious girl. To the great revulsion of most of the Z-Senshi and the dismay of the audience and the Announcer, Spopovich had cocked his right fist back, ready to pummel the utterly defenseless girl some more. However, just as it looked when he was about to go on the attack again...

"That is enough, Spopovich!" barked a voice, nearly sounding thunderous in the deathlike silence that now hung over the arena.

The Senshi had been surprised to see that it had been Spopovich's cohort, Yamu, who'd ordered him to stop. During the systematic pummelling Videl had taken, the dark man had moved closer to the ring. Instantly recognizing the voice of his partner, Spopovich whirled on him, while still holding Videl's limp body firmly in his hand, and shot him a look of vexation.

"What did you say?" he roared at the shorter man.

"You heard what I said," Yamu retorted. "You've had your fun. Now end the match!"

"But I'm not finished with her yet!" Spopovich complained. Ever since Mr. Satan had thoroughly humiliated him at the last Tenkaichi Budokai, he'd wanted nothing more but to exact sweet revenge on the World Champion- a desire that had only been magnified after being turned into a Majin warrior. Now that he'd been given the chance to do just that in form of Mr. Satan's only child, he wasn't feeling particularly inclined to stopping just yet.

Yamu's dark eyes narrowed on his partner coldly. "Stop it! You're acting like a big, petulant child!" he snapped. "End the match this instant! That's not what we're here for!"

For a long moment, Spopovich looked as if he wanted to argue with his friend- to protest the unfairness of not being able to get the retribution he'd been craving since the last tournament. Then, remarkably, _thankfully_, he decided to put an end to the match by walking towards the edge of the ring and then dropping Videl outside on the ground as if she was an unwanted trash bag. Videl hit the ground with a thud, and was less than inclined from stirring back into consciousness.

Spopovich had won.

Already annoyed that he had to stop his assault on Videl prematurely, he was even further so when he didn't hear the Announcer stating him as the winner right away. Whirling, he glared exasperatedly at the stunned, blonde-haired man.

"Hey, you!" he bellowed at the man. His booming voice made the Announcer jump as Spopovich instantly grasped his attention. "Stop standing there looking stupid! Declare me the winner, already!"

After being shaken up greatly from watching the horrific beating Videl had gotten at Spopovich's hands, it took the Announcer several deep breaths before he managed to get himself back under control.

"A-and your winner of this bout...Contestant Spopovich," the blonde-haired man declared gravely.

His announcement seemed to snap Gohan out of his trance, and ran swiftly outside to tend to the fallen Videl. At the same time, it snapped the audience out of their aghast states, and they promptly booed and cussed Spopovich profusely for the cruel treatment he'd given to the daughter of their savior. But Spopovich only soaked it all up, feeling a bit mollified that he'd at least gotten the chance to hurt Videl badly in front of all of her and Mr. Satan's loyal fans.

Meanwhile, Gohan was crouched on the ground, cradling Videl upper body in his strong arms. His face contorted in utter concern as he stared down at his comatose friend.

"Videl! Videl! Wake up! Answer me!" he shouted at her urgently.

After a long moment, during which Gohan's blood turned cold with fear, Videl finally responded to him with a soft moan. But that was it, as she remained steadfastly unconscious. Nevertheless, Gohan still breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Videl would be all right, albeit badly injured. The longer he stared down at his friend's nonmoving, bruised form, cold rage swelled up inside him- a sensation he hadn't truly felt since his battle with Cell years ago. Snapping his head up, he wildly looked this way and that before his eyes finally landed on the source of his ire, who was just now making his way out of the ring. And the sight of that grin of baleful triumph on Spocovich's face, nearly made him turn Super Saiyajin, but the only reason he didn't was because he didn't want to bring Videl anymore discomfort she was already feeling.

"Spopovich!"

Hearing someone furiously yelling his name, both Spopovich and Yamu paused and spun around to see who it was. The two looked rather unconcerned, as if they were watching a bug flying around, when they saw that it had been the young man in the strange outfit, who was now rising to his feet with Videl's inert form in his arms. Though the feral expression he was fixing Spopovich in particular with was hidden by his glasses, anyone with ki-sensing abilities could tell how enraged Gohan was, as it felt like he would explode like a supernova any second now.

"Spopovich! Don't think you're going to get away with this," Gohan snarled, sounding unlike his normally cheerful self. "I won't let you! I will make you pay! I swear it on my life!"

While Yamu was unimpressed with Gohan's words, Spopovich gave the teenager a very nasty sneer, which silently told the half-Saiyajin that he would be waiting. Then, in a wordless agreement, the two dark men turned and walked off without interruption this time.

"Hey! Is she going to be all right?" the Announcer was asking Gohan in genuine concern, as he rushed over to where he was holding Videl.

"Yes," Gohan answered solemnly, looking mostly down at the comatose, young woman in his arms than at the blonde man. "I'm going to take her to the infirmary right now." So saying, he turned on his heel and carried Videl off toward the arena's hospital.

The Announcer then hastily trotted back toward the ring, so that the could relay what Gohan had told him as he knew the spectators were deeply worried about Mr. Satan's daughter. "Good news, ladies and gentlemen. I was just told by the Great Saiyaman that Videl was fine, and that he was taking her to the infirmary to get treated for her injuries. And so now we're going into a short intermission in the tournament. Thank you."

"Man, I sure hope Gohan's girlfriend is all right," Kuririn said, his solemn voice only magnifying the solemn mood inside the waiting room. His expression darkened as he recalled Spopovich viciously beating up Videl. "And Spopovich- that bastard! How can he just act so damn indifferent after he nearly just killed that girl?"

"No use of ranting about it now," Amara said indifferently. "It's over with."

"Yeah, but still," Kuririn said, not really feeling mollified about Spopovich's uncalled actions against Videl.

"Goku," Piccolo said, looking sideways at the dead warrior," I think you'd better go up to Karin's Tower and get some senzou beans for Gohan's friend."

"I think you're right, Piccolo-san," Goku agreed, staring off into the distance. His normally cheerful expression was gone for the moment, replaced with a serious expression that was only seen on Goku's face whenever he was in battle. "And I sense we're going to need them for more than just this incident."

"So, you sense that, too?" Piccolo asked, not very surprised that his long-time friend had. Goku nodded.

"I'm leaving now, Piccolo," the Saiyajin announced. Then, placing the first two fingers of his right hand to his forehead, Goku vanished in a blur of light.

Wrapped up in his own thoughts, Vegeta had been stricken with dismay when he suddenly noticed his rival teleporting out of the waiting room.

"Just where the did he run of to?" he demanded, looking wild-eyed at the place Goku had just been.

"He went to go get senzou beans for Gohan's friend," Juuhachi-gou supplied from where she was still leaning against the wall behind him, without even looking at Vegeta.

"Well, he'd better get back here before our match starts," Vegeta growled, "if he knows what's good for him!"

With their attentions centered on one thing or another, none of the Senshi, or any of the other participants noticed the equal serious expressions on the faces of Shin, Kibito, and Kosumo.

"It would seem that Spopovich and Yamu are getting ready to finally make their move," Kosumo remarked.

"You're right," Shin acquiesced. "But we will be ready when we they do. We've had a lot of time to prepare for this."

"Yes," was the only thing Kibito said.

Meanwhile, in a secluded area of the arena...

"Dammit, Yamu, why you had to go ruin everything!" Spopovich was complaining to his partner again. "You know how long I've been waiting to get revenge on Mr. Satan what he did to me!"

"Didn't I tell you to stop whining?" Yamu snapped. "Besides, you know as well as I do that Babidi-sama wouldn't be forgiving of us if we messed around out here and not get the energy for Lord Majin Buu."

"I suppose you're right," Spopovich answered sulkily. "But I still don't like it!"

Ignoring the larger man's last comment, Yamu spoke again. "You can thrash Mr. Satan and his kid all you want after the mission is through, now listen up. I noticed that while that boy was confronting you a few moments ago, the energy meter was reacting weirdly to him. It was just like when you were beating up on the champion's brat, and he got mad and started powering up."

Spopovich let out a nasty chuckle as he, too, remembered both his battle with Videl and his confrontation with Gohan. "Heh. I know what you're getting to Yamu, and I'm completely with you. Taking that whelp's ki will teach him to interlope in other people's affairs!"

Yamu's mouth curled in a malevolent smile, as he said, "Yes, and we'll get our chance to steal his precious energy during his match!"

* * *

"Hmm?" Goten, who had just been conversing with his two best friends, was suddenly distracted by a strange sensation that scraped at the edge of his awareness. "Did you guys just feel that?" he asked.

"Feel what?" Koji and Hoshi chorused, blinking at their friend curiously.

"It's oniisan," Goten answered, looking worried about what he'd just sense. "I just felt his power raise a second ago, and he was mad. Really mad."

"Really?" Koji said. He and Hoshi had known their friend's brother almost as long as Goten himself had, and neither of them could ever recall seeing Son Gohan get mad before. Irritated, yes, truly _mad_-no.

"Well, I don't sense anything now," Koji said.

"Me, neither," Hoshi added.

But Goten didn't seem to be mollified yet as he was still looking depressed about what he'd just said.

"Don't worry," Koji told him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure your brother is just fine. He's tough, remember?"

"Yeah, you're right," Goten agreed, his expression becoming bright again.

"And besides," Hoshi started with a laugh, "what you should really be worried about is you and Koji looking for a new place to stay, so your mothers want get a hold of you for fighting in the adult tournament without permission."

Koji and Goten blushed simultaneously at the reminder of their failed attempt at competing in the Tenkaichi Budokai with the adults earlier. Hoshi laughed even harder at her cousin and her friend.

* * *

Mr. Satan flew down the walkway like a bullet being fired from a gun, his face contorted in a mix of concern and anger. A few moments ago, while he'd still been recovering from his exhibition match against Koji, a attendant had rushed into his locker room and recounted Videl's loss against Spopovich and that she'd been taken to the infirmary to get treated for some bad injuries. As soon as he'd been told that, Mr. Satan had instantly forgotten his own injuries, and he ran out of his room to check on his baby girl.

Shortly, the World Champion had arrived at a door with the words "infirmary" written across its wooden surface in Japanese kanji, and sharply opened the door so he could entered. Upon stepping inside the room, Mr. Satan momentarily paused, his blood freezing when he was presented with an horrifying image of his daughter lying motionless in bed with her eyes closed, wrapped up in bandages and hooked to beeping monitors that stood at different intervals in the room. To him, the sight in front of him was an eerily, frightening resemblance to how his wife and Videl's mother had looked before she died when the girl had just been a toddler. He then shook himself to return back to the here and now, and swiftly rushed over the side of medic bed where his daughter was, taking one of her hands into both of his.

"Videl-chan! Videl-chan, honey!" he cried urgently. "Speak to me! It's Papa, sweetie!"

Mr. Satan started to grow even more worried when Videl had remained unresponsive to him. In the next moment, Videl thankfully stirred, moaning loudly, he faced twisted in an agonized expression in her sleep, as a surge of pain racked her battered body. Then it passed, and Videl calmed down. At seeing his daughter respond to him, even if it hurt him to see his daughter was obviously in so much pain, the blue-eyed man finally released the breath that he'd had no idea he had been holding in, relieved.

"Don't worry, baby," he told her, "Papa's here with you, now. Everything's going to be all right. I promise."

"Sir, she'll be fine. She just needs to rest." Mr. Satan sharply looked around when he heard the unfamiliar voice. For the first time since he arrived in the room, he noticed a young man standing near an attendant that he very vaguely remembered seeing at the Preliminaries. Already half-worried for his daughter's well-being and half-enraged at what Spopovich had done to his sweet daughter, he was really not in the mood for unknown people trying to cut in on his time with his paining Videl. He stood back to his feet and shot the boy an vexed glare.

"And just who the hell are you?" he demanded.

"But Mr. Satan sir," the attendant decided to quickly speak up on Gohan's behalf. "This young man was the one who brought your daughter in here in the first place."

For a moment, Mr. Satan gazed at the younger man in surprise; he hadn't been told that this boy had been the one who'd conveyed his daughter to the infirmary. Then, in the next, his eyes narrowed on Gohan suspiciously, making the teenager feel a bit nervous under his stern gaze.

Since the moment of his daughter's birth, Mr. Satan had always been overprotective of his daughter. As soon as she was old enough, he allowed her to train to become a martial artist like himself, to follow in his footsteps and hopefully take over his dojo one day when he was gone from this world. He always gave Videl anything she asked of him- he was particularly able to do that after he'd told everyone that it had been him who'd destroyed Cell, and got rich off it. Being his only child, the piece of herself that his beloved wife had left behind before she died, he allowed her to do almost anything.

However, one thing he didn't allow her to do was to associate herself with boys. Having been one himself a long time ago, he knew how boys were like...and not to mention how _hormonally _charged they were. He knew how young boys, especially the ones around the age of the kid standing in front of him, liked to scheme and plot of ways to get into a pretty young girl's pants. He definitely knew about that one- he used to be one of those types of boys. And now that he's discovered a reasonably handsome, young man standing in the infirmary with his daughter, who was obviously deeply worried about her, his mind was starting to put two and two together.

_*I should have figured!_* he thought irritably. *_The reason my little girl loss today was because she's been hanging out with this boy behind my back, and kept away from her training! It is the reason! Because if Videl had been training instead of doing who knows what with this damn kid, she would've easily beaten that chump Spopovich, as easily as I had! This is all this damn boy's fault!*_

Narrowing his eyes in a fierce scowl, Mr. Satan was about lay into Gohan for causing his daughter to get distracted and get nearly beaten to an inch of her life. Then, all of a sudden...

"Go...Go...han"

Everyone in the small room immediately looked around, as they heard the miraculous sound of Videl's voice. It seemed that she was dreaming, though, as she twisted and turned in her bed, her eyes still vaulted closed. Nevertheless, Gohan knew she needed him, and he quickly trotted over to her bedside, taking her hand in his gloved hands as Mr. Satan had a few moments ago.

"Go...Gohan," Videl faltered his name out again.

"Don't worry, Videl-chan, I'm right here," Gohan hastened to assure her, relieved when she returned normally still.

"Videl-chan?" Mr. Satan echoed vexingly, levelling Gohan with a knifelike look for being so familiar with his daughter. He was even further annoyed when a smile of content touched his daughter's lips at the sound of Gohan's voice. Mr. Satan's jaw then dropped in dawning horror.

_*Don't tell me...that my baby's actually...actually smitten with this boy!*_ he seethed silently.

"Listen Videl-chan, I can't stay as much as I want to," he told her ruefully. "My match with Kibito is coming up shortly. But don't you worry, I'll be back as soon as possible. And I will get Spopovich for you!"

As Gohan said that last part, Videl sighed out his name softly in her sleep as if she could here him, and at the same time Mr. Satan shot Gohan a scornful glare. Rising slowly to his feet, then taking a long moment to stare down at her, privately relieved that she seemed to be recovering as he still held her hand. Gohan gave her hand one final squeeze before releasing it and then taking his leave of the infirmary.

It was some time after Gohan had left, that Mr. Satan's shock-frozen brain had finally thawed to allow him to digest what had just happened, and he sputtered in incoherent rage.

"Why, that little gaki!" the World Champion snarled as he stomped over towards the door. The attendant, who'd been in his way, immediately moved out of his way; he wanted to keep the man that defeated Cell and saved the world as less angry with as he could. Meanwhile, Mr. Satan opened the door and stuck his head outside. He'd looked out just in time to see Gohan vanishing around a corner.

"Yeah, you better run!" he barked before closing the door back. He then walked back over to his daughter's bedside, his eyes burning with blue fire.

"Iie Videl! I'll be the one to get revenge for YOU! Not that second-rate amateur boy!" Mr. Satan vowed to her, hoping she heard him as she'd just heard that kid- Gohan was what she'd called him, didn't it? Well, it really didn't matter. He wasn't about to allow some snot-nose brat to avenge his daughter when that was his right and his right alone.

Oh, how he would make Spopovich pay for hurting the only thing in world that meant more to him in life than his championship belt and all his fans combined all together.

* * *

Halfway across the world, Goku rematerialized on an all-too-familiar ivory tower.

"Man, it sure has been a long time since I've been here last," he said to himself, smiling nostalgically.

He then stepped through the doorway in front of him, figuring that the tower's only two occupants would be there since he didn't see either of them outside. However, as he stood in the middle of the entryway, he paused. Despite the dire situation back at the Budokai that had brought him back to this place, he couldn't help himself as his black gaze took in the familiar sight of the room. It made him reflect back to the first time he ever came to Karin's Tower.

So lost in thought (something which the people who knew Goku well would never associate him with thinking too long), he never noticed the short, furry being coming through another doorway tucked the far side of the room. But the furry being noticed him, and nearly keeled over in shock when he saw who was standing in his home.

"What in the blazes?" Karin gasped, shocked. "Goku-san, is that really you?"

Hearing Karin's voice snapped the Saiyajin out of his musings, and he looked towards his friend and grinned at him affably. "Yo, Karin-san! It's good to see you!"

Karin didn't know why he was so surprised to see the Saiyajin standing before him even though he was supposed to be dead. After all, this man had done the impossible several times over.

"Hey, Yajirobe!" Karin called over his shoulder towards the room he just came out of. "Stop stuffing your face out there, and come have a look at who came to visit us!"

Shortly after, preceded by some grumbling, a very recognizable, pudgy man entered the room. He was holding a plate full of rice cakes, and munching on one right now.

"You bellowed, you irritating cat?" Yajirobe snapped at Karin. However, before the Nekojin could answer him, Yajirobe raised his head, and nearly dropped his plate of rice cakes when he finally noticed the familiar grinning man standing in front of him.

"How's it goin', Yajirobe?" Goku greeted. "Oi, love the moustache!"

"Goku!" Yajirobe yelled, thunderstruck. "What in the world are you doing here? I thought you were dead!"

"Well, I still am, actually," Goku told him with a laugh, pointing briefly at his halo. "I'm just back here for today, so I can compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai."

"So, what brings you here to my tower?" asked Karin. Quickly adding, "of course, you know that you're welcome all the time."

At Karin's question, Goku's expression went serious again. "I came because I needed some senzou beans. "

"Oh, no!" Yajirobe bellowed, stabbing a finger at Goku accusingly. "Every time you come here for a senzou bean, that usually mean that the planet is in trouble! And you know how much I hate trouble-owww!" Yajirobe had broken off in his tirade, and also dropped the rice cake he'd been eating, when Karin struck him on the head with his bo staff in a scolding manner.

"Ignore him Goku," Karin said, while using his own advice as Yajirobe shot him a dark glare as he rubbed the offending spot on his head. "Now why, pray tell, do you need senzou beans?"

"A friend of Gohan's got injured in her match today, and I need them to give her one," Goku explained. "But for some reason, I'm getting this suspicion that by the end of the day, she won't be the only person needing a senzou bean."

"Ah," Karin replied somberly. "So, there is trouble afoot."

"See! See what I toldya?" Yajirobe boasted, and was promptly struck on the head with Karin's bo staff again. "Itai! Why you crazy kitty-kat!"

It was right then, that Goku finally noticed the plate of rice cakes Yajirobe had been holding. His face lit up like the Fourth of July at the delicious sight, and his mouth started to water.

"Oh, boy! Rice cakes!" he said excitedly. "I haven't had one of these since...since right before I came back to Earth. Let me have one, Yajirobe!"

"Hey, forget it!" Yajirobe barked, viciously slapping the hungry Saiyajin's hand away as he reached out for **his **rice cakes. "I haven't eaten anything since breakfast! So, I'm not sharing these babies with anyone!"

"Oh, c'mon!" Goku begged, looking more like a child at that moment than the grown man he actually was. "Just one, and I promise I won't ask for any more."

"Uso yo!" Yajirobe said steadfastly. "Don't you try to trick me! Everybody knows that you Saiyajin have bottomless wells for stomaches! If I gave you one, then you'd want me to give you the rest! And I'm not going to do that!"

"Please?"

"No! N-O!"

The two men turned when they suddenly heard Karin explode with boisterous laughter.

"I swear, Goku," he said, "even after being dead for so long, you're still that same wild child I met all those years ago." Spinning around, he headed back towards the kitchen, while beckoning Goku to follow him. "C'mon, kid. I'll fix you up your own rice cakes for old time's sake."

"Really? Oh, boy!" Goku cheered.

In a silly, childish moment, Goku stuck his tongue out at Yajirobe impudently before following behind Karin...forgetting all about his son's unfortunate friend, who was still back at the stadium, lying in pain on a infirmary bed.

"Man, he's such a child," Yajirobe muttered, shaking his head in disdain. With a small smile, and now that he was certain no one could hear him, he added, "but I guess I am glad to see him again."

* * *

To all appearance, it was as if Juuhachi-gou had fallen asleep on the wall she was standing on, her eyes closed and her arms crossed over her chest. But in actuality, she was as aware of the things going on around her as she would be with her eyes open. She could clearly hear the conversation going on between Kuririn and Piccolo. She could also hear Vegeta's and Amara's foots tapping the floor in an unintentional rhythm, as the former irritably awaited Goku's return, while the latter was ready for the tournament to start up again. She could also hear the rather irritating sound of Gohan pacing across the room back and forth; he'd been doing that ever since he came back from the infirmary, and Kuririn had told him that Goku had went off to go bring back some senzou beans for Videl. And it had been a while ago since Goku left, so even she could understand whle Gohan felt the need to do that- especially when his lover or his friend, as he liked to pretend to call her, was badly injured.

_*Vegeta certainly wouldn't worry about me like that,*_ a detached voice pointed out to her.

_*Now where had that thought come from?* _she wondered. Who in the world said she wanted Vegeta to worry about her? She wasn't some fragile human like Videl was, she could've handled Spopovich quite easily. Still, the strange, unbidden thought sent a just as strange surge of bitterness through her, adding to the bitterness she'd already been feeling since her fight earlier with her obstinate son and his friend.

Suddenly feeling their stares on her, Juuhachi-gou's eyes shot open, and looked around to find Shin, Kibito, and Kibito looking at her. Her pale brows lowered in a faint frown, when she saw the Guardian of Cosmos and her pals watched her. Even as she met their penetrating gazes back unwaveringly, Juuhachi-gou's scowl imperceptibly deepened as she was starting to grow annoyed. She didn't like the way they were looking at her one bit; it was if they were staring directly into her, and seeing something in her that she couldn't see. When she soon grew tired of their staring, she was just about to demand what they were looking at, when...

"Grr! What in the world is taking Tousan so long?" Gohan demanded impatiently, grimacing.

"Hey, calm down, Gohan," Kuririn said soothingly. "I'm sure Goku's on his way back right now."

"But still," Piccolo spoke up, "with Shuken Idou, Goku should've been back a long time ago."

Kuririn chuckled. "Heck, knowing Goku, he probably stopped off somewhere to eat-oops!" Kuririn quickly covered his mouth, wishing he could take back what he'd just said, especially when Gohan glared in his direction.

"You really think that's what he's doing?" Gohan asked.

"With Goku, that is a very distinct possibility," Piccolo said.

Gohan growled in the back of his throat in frustration. As much as he loved and admired his father, the man could be so absentminded at times that it could get a bit irritating. Knowing how much his father loved to eat, he wouldn't be all that surprised if he was sitting down at Karin's table right now, stuffing his face while Videl lay in the infirmary in pain. _*Otousan! This is no time for one of your pig-outs! Videl needs one of those senzou beans really bad! Please hurry!*_

"But wait a minute! Maybe it's taking Goku so long because Karin doesn't have any fresh senzou beans?" Kuririn suggested, trying to defend his best friend.

Piccolo shot him a withering look out the corner of his eye. "And that's supposed to make Gohan feeling any better, how?"

"You're right," Kuririn agreed, his shoulders slumping guiltily. "Oh, why can't I learn to keep my big mouth shut?"

Gohan suddenly expressed his annoyance over having to wait for his father with a huff.

"Oi, I'm going to go check on Videl," he was telling the others even as he was starting to walk off. "Tell Otousan to come to the infirmary, whenever he gets back." With that, he was gone.

"Ah, he's so worried about her," Kuririn said, grinning as he watched Gohan's retreating form. "I still can't believe little Gohan's got him a girlfriend."

"Funny. I said the same thing about you when you got together with Amara," Piccolo said.

"Hey!"

In the infirmary, Videl was moaning in pain in her sleep again, clenching the sheets tightly. Mr. Satan knelt at her side, holding her hand, her noises of discomfort tearing him up inside. It angered him to no end to see his near-grown daughter in so much pain, and knowing that there wasn't a thing he could do to make her feel better. He still couldn't believe that the same man he defeated years ago at the last Tenkaichi Budokai defeated her.

_*It was a fluke!*_ he thought decisively, as he continued to look down at his daughter in concern. He scowled as he then thought about that boy who was in there earlier on. *_That little bastard must've distracted her! That was the only reason my girl lost! And when I'm through with Spopovich, I'm going to get him as well!*_

Aloud, he then asked the doctor, "will she be okay?" .

"Hai," the doctor said reassuringly. "Just minor injures, sir. Nothing really serious."

In the next instant, the unfortunate man suddenly found himself being lifted into the air with one hand clenched around his shirtfront. He stared down in fear, as Mr. Satan glared up at him balefully.

"YOU better be telling the truth!" the World Champion bellowed. "Because if not, we're then goin' play surgeon! And just guess WHO'S goin' be the PATIENT!" Mr. Satan threatened, frightening the man even more.

There was a sudden knock at the door. Wondering who it was, Mr. Satan thoughtlessly released the poor man, who landed ungainly on the floor, and went to go see who it was. He certainly hoped it wasn't that boy coming back in there! However, as he opened the door, he almost wished that it was Gohan, when he was nearly blinded from the hundreds of flashes of lights shined off simultaneously in his face.

Even before all the spots had vanished from his eyes, and they adjusted to the sudden high level of brilliance, he already knew those lights from anywhere. Apparently, the Press had gotten word of the assault on his daughter, and wanted to come snoop for some information. However, as much as he adored the attention of all the reporters, he really wasn't in the mood to be answering their a thousand and one questions right now, nor did he want them disturbing his daughter while she see was hurting. So, without even given them at least a smile, he slammed the door rudely in all their faces.

Meanwhile, on another hallway, Gohan was still running full speed toward Videl's room, when all of a sudden...a familiar orange blur appeared out of nowhere in front of him. So surprised by this, Gohan wasn't able to stop himself in time, and would've ran into the person, if whoever it was hadn't clamped their hands on his shoulders to stop him.

"Whoa! Whoa! Where's the fire, musuko?" Goku asked, grinning down at his son.

"Dad, you're back!" Gohan exclaimed happily, though sounded a bit breathless from the running he'd been doing. "Dad, where you've been all this time? I thought you'd never get back."

Goku looked as if he was about to reply, but Gohan cut him off.

"Oh, nevermind that. Do you have the senzou beans with you?" Gohan asked impatiently.

"Yeah. Here they are," Goku replied. He then reached underneath his sack and then pulled out a tiny sack. Just as soon as he did, it was snatched up from the dead warrior's hand, as Gohan took off in a run.

"Thanks a lot, Dad! You're the greatest!" Gohan yelled before disappearing around a corner.

Goku smiled at the spot he'd last seen his son. Then he drew two fingers on his head and quietly teleported away.

Moments later, Gohan came pounding through the crowd of news reporters and ran inside the medical center, quickly closing the door behind him. Mr. Satan turned and glared at him as the boy trotted over toward his daughter.

"Boy what are you doing in here?" he growled.

"Well, sir, I got something here that'll make Videl all better." Gohan answered and dug into the bag and brought out a senzou bean. He stalked over to Videl's bed and offered her the senzou bean when Mr. Satan grabbed his hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm not goin' let you give my daughter some worthless bean!" he snarled, glaring furiously at the demi-Saiyajin who gave him a nervous smile.

"Hai, I agree with him," the doctor added in.

"Iie...Papa," the sound of Videl's weak voice quickly made Mr. Satan forget about Gohan, and look over at his daughter in surprise. "L-let him...help me. I...trust him with my life."

With nothing holding him back, Gohan placed the senzou bean into the girl's mouth and she started to slowly crunch on it.

"Oh, I better go, I have match to get to," Gohan said urgently and ran out of the room, unseen by both Mr. Satan and the doctor who watched Videl with close inspection to see if the girl wasn't poison by that been the boy gave her. And right before their eyes, Videl's eyes cracked opened and the girl sat up on her, looking down at herself in amazement as all the pain she was feeling just a few moments ago had completely vanished. In fact, she felt better than she's ever had.

"Videl?" Mr. Satan faltered out in shock. "Um. How're you feeling?"

"I feel...I feel...I feel GREAT!" Videl shouted, jumping in the air for joy.

* * *

Out in the arena, the Announcer had returned from wherever he'd gone off to during the tournament's short recess, and scaled the steps to enter the ring.

"All right, people! The recess is over, and now it's time to get right back into the action!" he declared.

The audience cheered enthusiastically at his announcement.

"Okay, let's get the next match rolling! In the following contest, we will see Contestant Great Saiyaman pitted against Contestant Kibito! So participants, come on down!"

However, that wasn't possible, as Gohan still hadn't returned.

"Hm. Gohan's not back, yet," Goku remarked.

"He better get back soon, if he doesn't want to miss his match," Kuririn said.

Had anyone beein looking at Piccolo right now, they would've saw him staring over at Kibito. Privately, he was concerned about his pupil's chances in his match against Kibito. Sure, he knew how powerful Gohan was, and that he had the ability to transform into a Super Saiyajin Two, however, the boy had been embarrassingly lax in his training over the years. Besides, his mysterious opponent worried him in general, as he still couldn't figure out him or Shin.

In the next instant, Shin raised his head and looked directly at Piccolo, smiling at him faintly. *_Don't worry, Piccolo. Kibito won't hurt your friend. I assure you.*_

Piccolo gasped and stiffened in place, staring back at his opponent in the tournament in shock. _*H-how can you read my mind? Who are you?*_

_*All will be revealed in time,* _Shin responded. _*So keep this between us for right now.*_

Right afterwards, Gohan came jogging inside the room.

"Ah! Gohan, you're back!" Goku said. "And just in time, too, son. Your match with Kibito is about to start."

"Right, Dad!" Gohan said.

"Hey, Contestant Great Saiyaman! Contestant Kibito!" the Announcer called after neither of the competitiors showed up in the last couple of moments. "I said come on down! It's time to start the match!"

Hearing the Announcer, Gohan nodded to himself, and was about to head out to the ring, when Kibito abruptly drew up in front of him. He stared up at his taller opponent, become trapped in the elder man's penetrating gaze.

"Good luck in our match out there, Gohan," Kibito said, before finally making his way out of the room and out towards the ring.

After he stood there for a moment, blinking at Kibito's retreating form in surprise, he shook himself and started to follow behind Kibito.

"Gambette yo! Gohan!" Goku yelled after his son.

_*Yeah, I have a sinking suspicion he's going to need it,*_ Piccolo thought. He then risked another glance back over at Shin, and was even further unnerved to find that Shin was still watching him. Piccolo then quickly looked back in the direction where the ring was.

"Say Sharpner, doesn't the Great Saiyaman look like Gohan-san?" Erasa asked as she looked closely at the Great Saiyaman and as did Sharpner.

"It is the lil' sissy!" Sharpener laughed, as he couldn't believe all this time, SON GOHAN was actually the person who ran around the cities stopping crime. "If he can do all that, then how come he still can't play baseball?" he wondered aloud and Erasa nudged him in the elbow.

"Hey, lets cheer him on?" she suggested, Sharpener gave her a shrug and before he knew it, they were both cheering and whistling at the boy.

Gohan looked sideways when he heard his name being called out from the spectators and quickly spotted both Sharpener and Erasa before waving at them timorously. "Saaaa, I guess I want need these anymore," Gohan sighed and took his shades off and cast them aside.

"Fighters are you ready! HAJMIE!" The announcer shouted.

Gohan dropped into a readying stance and waited. Kibito just stood like he was, eying the warrior gravely. Then, the mysterious competitor said something that took the half-Saiyajin aback.

"Son Gohan. I would like to see your Super Saiyajin powers?"

Gohan gaped. "What did you say?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	21. Secrets Revealed

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but I do own my original characters.**

**Chapter Twenty-One: Secrets Revealed**

* * *

"Come again?" Gohan asked, stunned.

"I said: transform into a Super Saiyajin," Kibito repeated patiently, still regarding the teenager with his calm, penetrating gaze.

Even if he had heard Kibito more clearly just then, Gohan was still dumbstruck that his opponent even knew about the secret he'd wanted to hide during the tournament to even ask him such a thing. Overhearing the two, the Z-Senshi were surprised by this as well.

"Hey! How does Kibito know that Gohan can become a Super Saiyajin?" Goku wondered, scratching his head in puzzlement.

"Well, don't look at me," Kuririn said. "This is one time where I did keep my big mouth shut."

Just a short distance away, Vegeta's dark eyes narrowed on Kibito supiciously as he wondered about Kibito's surprising knowledge of the Super Saiyajin as well. He had always thought that not too many outside species knew of the powerful, near-God-like, beings of his race. The only ones he knew that had known about it had been Furiiza and his family. But even they had thought that the Super Saiyajin was just a mere legend. So, how did Kibito know about them?

_*Hmm, I wonder*_ he thought, as he looked out the corner of his eye back at Kosumo, who didn't noticed as she and that odd Shin character were observing the scene outside intently. That made the Prince even more suspicious. _*That woman had seen me, Amara, and Gohan in our Super Saiyajin forms back when he fought against her sister, so she probably told her little pals about us.* _

As he then turned his full gaze back towards the ring where Gohan and Kibito stood before one another, the accustomed crease in his brows strengthened some. He was starting to get this sinking suspicion that something big was about to go down out there- something that he wouldn't be able to control. And Vegeta hated being in any situation where he wasn't in control of things. He was starting not to like this whole picture one bit.

Piccolo was watching Shin and Kosumo as well- no, it was Shin he was really watching.

In the back of the room, Shin and Kosumo exchanged serious looks and quiet nods of agreement. The two then strolled forward together and made their way toward the front of the room where the Z-Senshi were standing. Hearing the two approach, the Warriors spun around (well, in Juuhachi-gou's case- opened their eyes and looked up) to face the engimatic pair. Everyone inwardly braced themselves, as they still didn't know what to expect from them, even in spite of the fact that most of the Warriors knew one of them to be a great ally.

"Listen," Shin said, meeting the questioning stares of the Z-Senshi unwaveringly. "As soon as Gohan transforms for Kibito, we're very certain that he will be attacked by Yamu and Spopovich."

In response to his grave announcement, Goku, Kuririn, and Piccolo let out a collective cry of surprise. Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara only stared.

"You really think so?" Goku asked.

"Yes," Kosumo confirmed. "Even now as we speak, the two are standing somewhere close by, lying in wait for the perfect opportunity for them to strike."

"The reason we tell you this," Shin went on, "is because when those two do finally decide to make their move...I want you all to give me your word that you won't interfere."

Vegeta and Amara sputtered in unison at the lavender man in indignation.

"You got some damn nerve trying to tell me what to do!" Vegeta snapped.

"Just who the hell do you think are to order around the Prince and Princess of the Saiyajin?" Amara demanded crossly.

"Amara! Vegeta! Don't be so disrespectful!" Piccolo admonished, earning himself more than one curious look after his outburst. Gazing directly at Shin, Piccolo added, "After all, Shin aren't you...Dai Kaiou-sama?"

"Dai Kaiou-sama? You mean he's something like...Kaiou-sama!" Kuririn exclaimed, staring over at Shin in amazement.

Suddenly, in spite of themselves, Kosumo and Shin let out amused chuckles. Piccolo stared at the two questioningly.

"Um, Piccolo, that's not Dai Kaiou-sama," Goku told him.

"What?" Piccolo asked, looking at the dead Saiyajin wide-eyed.

"Yeah, I met Dai Kaiou-sama while I was in Heaven," Goku revealed, looking over at Shin. "He's this really old guy who wears sunglasses. But why do you think Shin here is the Dai Kaiou-sama?"

Piccolo didn't respond to Goku's question, still too shocked to learn that he was wrong about Shin. He had been so sure he had been right! For starters, as soon as Shin had referred to him as 'former Kami-sama', he had immediately realized that Shin himself was a God, too. Only another God would know about him once being the Kami of this planet. Then the shape of his ears had reminded him a bit of Kaiou-samas, and knowing how the other Kaiou-samas looked, the Namekseijin had automatically assumed that he had to be the Grand God himself.

But if he wasn't the Grand Kaiou, then who was Shin?

"Goku-san is right," Kosumo said, "but you are on the right track, Piccolo-san. Shin is like the Kaiou, but he ranks above all the Kaious, including Dai Kaiou-sama himself. The ultimate God of the universe...Lord Kaioushin-sama!"

"Kaioushin-sama?" Piccolo, Goku, and Kuririn chorused in shock.

Even Vegeta and Amara weren't looking at the lavender man with disdain anymore. Although she didn't know what was going on, Juuhachi-gou still looked dutifully surprised.

"Whoa! I can't believe this!" Goku said, gawping down at Kaioushin. "I've heard stories about you, but I kinda always thought they were made up!"

"Now you see I'm as real as you and everyone else here are, Son Goku-san," Kaioushin said, his mouth the hint of a faintly amused smile. Then, looking completely serious again, he added, "And now that you know who I am, I want your word that you won't get involved with what's about to happen to Gohan."

There was a pause in the room. Most of the Senshi were still boggling over the fact that the God of all Worlds was standing right in their faces.

"Hey, listen," Kuririn said, breaking the silence. "I don't know what's going on here, but I can tell you that Gohan doesn't need any of our help. He can take care of himself just fine."

"Kaioushin-sama? Is my son really in trouble?" Goku asked worriedly.

"Just look outside. You'll see everything for yourself," Kaioushin simply told him.

With no other choice, Goku and the others did just that.

* * *

In Heaven, Kaiou of the North had been observing everything that has happened on Earth since Goku had went back to compete in the tournament. Knowing how the childly mortal was, the blue deity felt that it would be in both their best interest if he kept in eye on the Saiyajin at all time while he was back in the living realm. But after seeing the events unfolding at the tournament and overhearing the recent conversation, he was left as stunned as some of the Senshi had been.

"I can't believe it. Both Kaioushin-sama and Kosumo-sama are actually down on Earth," he said in shock. He frowned, his twitching antennas reflecting his worried mood. "Hmm. If they're both there, then something major must be going on."

Truthfully, before he had been hit with this newest development, Kaiou had already been sensing some kind of disturbance taking place on Earth lately. The sensation had been so erratic to him that he hadn't been able to pinpoint exactly what the uneasy feeling really was. But now that he knew that the Master himself and Kosumo were where Goku was, he definitely _knew _something was going amuck down there now. He was going to have to keep a very close eye on this situation.

* * *

Gohan's eyebrows furrowed together in a frown as he stared Kibito down. He was trying to figure out what the mysterious man was up to, and why he wanted him to transform into a Super Saiyajin so badly. Before him, Kibito stared back at him with an impassive, yet patient expression. He looked as if he had all the time in the world to wait for the half-Saiyajin to comply to his request.

Over near the main entrance building, a certain pair of wicked, outrageously muscled men waited patiently for the action to start as well.

However, the audience wasn't so patient as a majority of them was becoming irritated with all the stalling in the ring. Some of them began expressing their annoyance in scathing shouts to encourage the two participants to start. In return, Chichi told those same people (very loudly) to stop rushing her son, and that he would show them all what he was made of when he was good and damn ready. Amongst the half-impatient, half-bored audience (and faraway from where their mothers could spot them), Koji and Goten stood on the very top of the bleechers with Hoshi.

"Hey, Goten-kun? Is your brother and that Kibito man going to fight or what?" Hoshi asked.

"It kinda looks like Gohan's a little scared to fight him," Koji opined. Goten made a face at him.

"Don't say that about my brother! he said defensively. "Gohan-niisan will fight that Kibito man. Just you wait!"

"Well, he still looks kinda scared to me," Koji said, though under his breath so the other boy wouldn't hear him.

_*Should I transform?*_ Gohan was asking himself. Maybe if they were in a more private environment, he might not have been so hesitant as he was to turn Super Saiyajin for Kibito. But Videl, Erasa, and Sharpner were there! They already knew he was The Great Saiyaman. He didn't want to freak any of them out even more by revealing that he was also the mysterious Gold Warrior that had saved their city on the day he first started school. _*What should I do?*_

"Psst!" the Announcer whispered over at the two competitors. "Say, could you two please hurry it up and get the match going? The crowd's getting restless, and you really don't want to see them when they're restless. Trust me."

Though he didn't respond the Announcer, he knew that the blonde-haired man had a point, but he was still so indecisive about obliging Kibito's strange request. A light bulb flashed on in the back of his head, as he suddenly decided to do like he always did whenever he needed help deciding something: he looked toward Piccolo for guidance. As usual, Piccolo already seemed to know what he needed, as he threw the teenager a reassuring nod back in his direction. At the gesture, Gohan smiled back at the green fighter; he now knew what to do.

"Well, I guess it really won't matter if I revealed yet another secret," he murmured, smiling wryly at his own words.

His expression then turned serious as he raised his head and looked Kibito right in the face.

"All right, Kibito," he began, a dangerous edge in his voice. "You want to see a Super Saiyajin, then you got it!" Putting his words into action, he clenched his fists at his side and spread his legs wide.

Overhearing Gohan's declaration, the Z-Senshi, Kaioushin, and Kosumo tensed inwardly in anticipation. Right outside and around the corner, Spopovich and Yamu did the same thing. And in another dimension, as did a blue god in shades.

Back in the ring, Gohan's face was contorted in intense concentration as he dug deep inside himself, searching for that power he hadn't used since the battles against Cell years ago. No change had come to Kibito's deadpan expression, even as he watched tendrils of electricity dance around Gohan, making the whole ring slightly shake, and rock fragments rose lazily from the cracks of the tile.

At that moment, Videl, in fresh new clothes, could be seen dashing back into the entrance building. Vegeta protested irritably at her as she shouldered (disrespectfully in his mind) past him, so that she could get to the front and see Gohan in his match. As soon as she reached the wall that stood in front of the building, she climbed up with ease so she could have a better look. Her intital thought when she looked over in the ring and saw peals of lightning, dust, and a golden mist encompassing her friend was, "What on Earth?"

That was the very same question running through the minds of all the spectators (the ones who weren't Gohan's mother and family friends that was), as they gaped down at him in awe.

"How is he doing that?" asked one man.

"This must be one of those special movie effects!" said another man.

"Is that kind of thing even allowed in the tournament?" asked the lady to his right.

Curious and bewildered murmurs started to flow through most sections of the crowds, as they wondered about the anomaly taking place in front of their eyes. What was going on here?

"All right, Kibito. Last call for requests," Gohan said. At that moment, he looked completely unlike the Son Gohan that those who knew him were accustomed to. His expression looked shockingly feral, his even, white teeth were gritted, and his hair swayed in a semi-invisible wind. "Do you want to see a regular Super Saiyajin...or would you like for me to take it to the level beyond that?"

For the first time since he met the man, Gohan witnessed genuine emotion register across Kibito's face, as he stared back at him in surprise.

"What? There's a level beyond that of a Super Saiyajin?" Kibito asked. Even Kaioushin had not known about this, and Kosumo had never mentioned anything about this when she was telling them what Gohan and the other warriors were like.

Gohan smiled at the older man. It was a more Saiyajin smile than the Son-inherited, goofy smile. _*So, Kibito or his friends didn't know about that ability of ours, it would seem. Well, he's about to see a Beyond Super Saiyajin, right now."_

"Hm," Yamu grunted as a odd noise reached his ears. Spopovich heard it, too. Already knowing what the noise was, the two immediately looked down at the energy stealing device in Yamu's hand. Their eyes widened when they saw that the needle was now spinning back and forth in crazy motions.

In the next instant, their attention was taken off the sinister device when they abruptly heard a near-bestial howl. They gazed back over toward the ring, and both became momentarily stunned at what they saw.

Son Gohan now stood in the center of the ring, roaring at the top of his lungs, the misty aura and electricity that had been hovering around him in a shy manner just seconds ago had now flared to a raging, golden nimbus, intermixed with his own personal lightninig storm. Gohan held nothing back. He allowed the power that he'd been keeping dormant inside him for years to surface back to the top, letting it take him in and turn him into that fierce warrior that had rid the planet of Cell. That very same power lifted up all the tiles in the air around him. His hair flushed a crackling burnt gold-white, and his eyes turned a complete pupiless white for a long moment.

All of the normal people in the arena let out cries of surprise, as they had to shield their eyes from the blinding golden light, and at the same times keep themselves from falling out of their seats, as the arena violently shook. In his dressing room, Mr. Satan let out a cry of surprise when his room started trembling crazily, causing him to pour the water he'd been drinking on himself, and also fall over backwards in his chair. Meanwhile, the not so normal people was able to bore it stolidly.

After long, several moments, the eye-searing brilliance had gradually went away. It a took a couple of extra minutes more to get their eyes adjusted back to the normal radiance of daylight. When they did, everyone's eyes were immediately drawn back toward the ring- where all the weirdness had originated from in the first place, and were instantly awestruck at what they found. All the tiles of the ring where still hovering in midair, and amid them was a wide-eyed Kibito and standing on the other side was one of the most fiercesome-looking beings a lot of them had ever seen. This person positively glowed with great power. In front of Kibito, now stood a young man with flashing, gold-white hair that stood up high on his head like flames and hard, turquoise eyes.

On the wall in front of the main entrance building, Videl was trembling like a leaf after what she'd saw. Her knuckles were white, her eyes were wide, and her jaw was slacked after witnessing her friend transform to the -haired being she'd been searching for ever since she'd heard about him stopping a bunch of criminals in her hometown.

"I-I don't believe!" she stammered, dumbstruck. "Gohan-san is...Gohan-san is actually the Gold Warrior, too!"

"Oh, my!" Erasa said, staring down at Gohan wide-eyed. "Gohan-san sure is a talented fellow. Not only is he the Great Saiyaman, but he's also the Gold Warrior as well! This has to got to be some kind of dream! Someone pinch me!"

The blonde teenager squeaked when Sharpner actually did pinch her.

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing that," Kuririn said, regarding the teenager with nearly the same expression Videl was, in spite of the fact that he's seen a lot more times than she had.

"Humph," Vegeta said, regarding the son of his rival in disdain. "The boy was a lot stronger as a kid. Going years without training has weakened him."

"Kaioushin-sama," Kosumo alerted him, while at the same time she held out her right hand and summoned her Cosmic Glaive.

"Right!" Kaioushin nodded his head in readiness.

Both Goku and Piccolo saw that, and it made the two even more worried about what was supposed to happen to Gohan.

Outside, in the ring, all the tiles finally fell back down to earth, landing neatly in their original places and turning back into a large, squared ring. In the center, Gohan regarded Kibito with a hard stare, preparing himself for what was to come next. Well, at least in his mind, that was what he thought he was doing.

"Wow! Cool!" Hoshi said after witnessing Gohan's transformation.

"Man, I wish I could do a cool transformation like that!" Koji said, impressed.

"See! I told you Gohan would be ready to fight!" Goten said proudly.

"Say, wasn't he one of those people who was with Mr. Satan when he fought Cell?" a man in the audience suddenly asked.

"You know what, I think I did see that gold fighter there," said another man.

Another buzz soon started to go through the audience, as they all started remembering seeing this mysterious gold fighter seven years ago when Mr. Satan had supposedly destroyed Cell.

"Look at this, Spopovich!" said Yamu, after he was finally able to take his eyes off Gohan. Snapping out of the trance that watching Gohan's metamorphosis had put him into, Spopovich glanced down in the direction his partner was pointing in and saw what he saw. The needle on the energy absorption device wasn't gyrating back and forth like it had been a few moments ago. It was now spinning in rapid, clockwise motions. After doing that a few more times, the needle had finally stopped completely on M at the very top of the meter.

At that, Yamu and Spopovich raised their heads and exchanged maliciously triumphant looks.

"It's time to go to work, my friend!" Yamu declared.

"Right!" Spopovich agreed, grinning in anticipation.

Now that their signal had been given, both the Majin warriors moved into action.

"What's wrong, Kibito?" Gohan asked his older opponent after he hadn't made even a single move since his transformation. "Are you afraid to fight me now? You did want to fight a Super Saiyajin, didn't you?" He then lowered himself into a fighting stance. "Then, come on. I'm ready to go!"

Kibito's mouth started to move as if he was about to say something, however, his words petrified at the edge of his mouth when a couple of shadows suddenly obscured him and Gohan. The half-Saiyajin had noticed this as well, and he and Kibito had looked up in time to see both Spopovich and Yamu looming over them- like a pair of vultures waiting for something to die.

After witnessing this, Kaioushin exclaimed, "Now!"

Thrusting out his hands towards Gohan, while Kosumo simultaneously aimed her glaive at the half-Saiyajin as well, both Kaioushin's eyes and the Cosmic Glaive shined with a identical blue glow. Outside, those same lights surrounded Gohan, and the teenager abruptly found himself unable to move.

The Senshi saw this. Kuririn looked appalled at the Kaioushin and the Guardian of Cosmos.

"Nani? What do you two think you're doing to Gohan?" he demanded.

Meanwhile, outside, two things seemed to be happening out in the ring at once. Spopovich was alighting behind Gohan and placing him in a vice-grip-tight bearhug. Yamu was touching down in front of the immobilized-ensnared teenager, taking the pointy tip of the baleful-looking instructment he'd been given to by his master, and stabbed it into Gohan's side. Gohan let out a drawn-out scream, pain shooting through every fiber of his body as his ki was swiftly being drained, the stolen ki transferring right into the energy stealing device. Golden light ruptured from his body, and spread out over the arena, blinding the normal spectators with its eye-searing radiance, making them gasp and cry.

"Oh, no! My baby!" Chichi shrieked in dismay. Like any mother would, she then tried to go down and rescue her first born, but didn't get very far as her father's enormous arms moved with surprising quickness to wrap around her slender body, keeping her immobile. "Let me go, Dad! I've got to go save Gohan-chan!"

"No, Chichi! You'll get hurt if you go down there!" Gyu Mao told her.

"I don't care! I have to save Gohan!" Chichi yelled back. She was now moving like a wild thing in her father's arms, as she struggled to get free. Bulma, her family (well, just her husband that was. Bra had actually fallen asleep), and Roshi, Puar, and Oolong gave the Ox King pitying looks as he was repeatedly kicked in the face by his daughter, but he withstood the punishment adamantly...no matter how much it hurt. After all, he's had lots of experience of doing it by now.

A similar picture could be seen on the other side of the arena, as Goten was struggling to get down to the ring to help his brother, but his two best friends were holding him back.

"Nnh! Let me go, you guys!" Goten shouted. "I've got to go help Gohan! He needs my help!"

"You can't go down there!" Hoshi protested. "Those two bad men might do the same thing to you, too!"

"And besides, I'm sure the adults will help your brother out any minute now!" Koji tried to assure him.

But it was obvious that Goten wasn't convinced by his friend's words, as he still kept struggling to get free from the other two half-Saiyajin.

Unfortunately, despite what Koji believed, none of the adults did go out to help Gohan. Not with the lack of trying, mind you. They'd just been ordered by a higher being to stay still and let this awful scene play out. However, there was a couple who just couldn't stand for this.

"Gohan!" Videl wailed in alarm, the horrific picture of watching her friend get attacked by Yamu and the same man who'd pummeled her nearly to a pulp a short while ago made her snap out of her daze. With a determined expression, she leaped off the wall to fly over to the ring and help Gohan. Well, she had intended to do that before a hand had suddenly wrapped around her ankle, keeping her afloat and inert in midair. Looking down to see who would dare try to stop her from saving Gohan, Videl nearly keeled over when she saw it was his own father.

"Goku! What are you doing?" she demanded frantically. "Can't you see that Gohan needs my help? Let me go! I've got to go help him!" Videl kept trying to fight against Goku to get free, but the man's grip on her was incredibly strong, even if he wasn't holding her with all his strength. Goku stared back up at the girl with regret evident in his face.

"I'm sorry for this, Videl-san," he murmured. "Forgive me."

"Gohan!" Kuririn shouted. He didn't care who Kaioushin was! He wasn't just going to stand here and watch what was happening to Gohan any longer. He tried to run out to the ring, however, he didn't get to far when his wife quickly reached out and caught him by the back of his shirt shirt.

"Let me go!" he barked, struggling with all his might to get free and failing.

"Keep him back!" Kosumo yelled.

"He must not interfere in this!" Kaioushin shouted.

Piccolo glared at the two. He knew that the two of them must had a very good reason for making them stand there while Gohan's energy was getting drained, but he could completely understand where Kuririn was coming from, and he wasn't so sure he would be able to comply with Kaioushin's orders if this continued on much longer.

Juuhachi-gou was watching the whole scene in quiet consternation, appalled at what she was seeing and being told that they weren't supposed to help Gohan. The boy who had freed her from Cell...the boy who went out his way just to visit her son...With a sudden decisive look on her face, she started to head out to the arena, not giving a damn what Kaioushin or Kosumo wanted. But just as she had taken only one step forward, a hand suddenly clamped down on her left shoulder. Looking around to see who it was, she was surprised to see the ever-serious expression of her husband looking back at her.

"V-Vegeta? But..." she started.

Vegeta shook his head.

Yamu was barking with laughter back in the ring, steadily draining away Gohan's ki. His expression held an insane quality to it as he observed the meter on the energy-stealing device, watching it as it filled with energy- this boy's delicious energy. The energy level was nearly reaching the M at the top of gauge meter. His master would be so pleased with him and Spopovich! In front of him, Gohan still remained trapped in Spopovich's mammoth arms, still screaming, the pupils of his eyes gone. And across from them, Kibito observe the scene with intense, regretful eyes.

"Just hang in there, Gohan," he said. "This will be over shortly."

He was right. Only a short minute later, a brilliant flash of light briefly covered the whole arena when the energy level had at last reached the full mark. Both Yamu and Spopovich could be seen grinning in unhinged satisfaction as the light level returned to normal.

"We've done it!" Spopovich crowed. "We got all the precious ki the master will need!"

"Yes!" Yamu shrieked in victory.

Yamu then removed the machine from Gohan's side, and Spopovich released him from his hold. After having all of his energy stolen from him, and now no longer had Spopovich to help him stand, Gohan fell to the ground like a ton of bricks. Unable to hold onto his Super Saiyajin form in his weakened state, his hair turned back black and his Super Saiyajin aura vanished. Gohan had fallen unconscious, his eyes rolling in the back of his head and his mouth parted as if he was going to say something. But no words came out.

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Yamu told his partner. "We've gotten what we came here for!"

With a nod of agreement, the two madmen kicked themselves off the ground, one by one, and flew away, completely leaving the arena. The apalled audience members watched them go momentarily, before all of their eyes were irresistibly drawn back to the victim that he had left back down in the ring.

"Gohan-san!" Videl wailed. Seeing Gohan lying lifeless in the ring, she tried even harder to get away from Goku...and he let her go then. Videl quickly rushed over to the ring.

Goku looked around at Kaioushin and Kosumo, his brows creased in a frown.

"What are you two going to do about this?" he asked.

Kaioushin and Kosumo exchanged significant looks.

"Do not worry, Goku," Kaioushin said. "Gohan will be all right. Kibito-san's going to take care of him."

"Meanwhile, Kaioushin-sama and I will be going after those two," Kosumo added. "And you all are more than welcome to come."

Though, even as she said that, neither of the two waited for any of the Senshi to make up their minds on coming with them as they stepped out into the arena. Then, one by one, the two lifted in the air like Spopovich and Yamu had, and soared away, completely ignoring the stupified looks some of the spectators wre giving them.

Piccolo observed the two flying away before they vanished from his line of vision entirely. He then looked over at Goku, discovering that he was doing the same thing.

"So, what are going to do, Goku?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

Goku was quiet for a moment. Then, he said, "I'm going after them, of course. I just got to find out why all of this happened to my son."

Almost as soon as those words left his mouth, Goku suddenly found himself standing face-to-face with Vegeta. The Prince glared sourly at him as he fisted his rival's gi shirt and brought him closer to yell at him.

"Baka! Has that feeble brain of yours finally stopped functioning?" Vegeta snarled. "We have a match later on, and I'm not about to let you slither your way out of this. I've waited too long for our rematch, asshole!"

Goku looked down at him dumbly, before flashing him a weak smile.

"No, Vegeta-san, I haven't forgotten our match!" Goku assured him. "It's just that I want to go see what's going on, and why those men attack Gohan. I promise that as soon as I do that, then we can have our rematch!"

The Saiyajin Prince looked even angrier than appeased by the dead warrior's vow. "HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOU'VE GOT JUST ONE LOUSY DAY ON THIS PLANET!"

"Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot," Goku remembered sheepishly. With a growl, Vegeta released Goku.

"So, are we going to go already or not?" Piccolo said impatiently.

"Yes," Goku said. He then turned pleading eyes on Vegeta, a look that seemed to disgust the shorter warrior even more. "Listen Vegeta, let me see about this first, and as soon as I'm done, I will fight you."

"You will, if you don't want me to send you back to Heaven the hard way!" Vegeta snapped back.

Seeing that Vegeta wasn't going to hold him back any longer, Goku finally took a running start out of the building and shot off into the air (he also had to tune out Chichi yelling at him). He followed close behind by both Piccolo, Kuririn, and a swearing Vegeta. Back in the building, now only Amara and Juuhachi-gou were left inside, as well as the dumbstruck trio of Jewel, Killa, and Punter.

"I'm definitely not about to miss this," Amara said to herself. She then sighed. "Plus, if I don't go that fool might end getting himself in trouble." She began to walk out of the room, too, however, when she noticed that Juuhachi-gou was coming, she stopped and looked at her questioningly.

"Aren't you coming?" she asked.

Juuhachi-gou looked back at the other woman with expressionless eyes. While she felt bad for Gohan..."No. You all can go, but I'm staying to win this tournament. I won't let nothing stand in my way of winning the prize money."

Amara stared at her rival for a time, frowning. Distracted by what had happened to Gohan, she had almost forgotten her true purpose for entering this tournament- defeat Juuhachi-gou. She glanced back towards the direction her husband and the others had went, then back to Juuhachi-gou, who was looking elsewhere now. Her scowl strengthened, but at the same time she also seemed to come to a decision.

"Suit yourself, then," she said. Turning around to walk out of the building, Amara was up in the air in seconds and hurtled after everyone. A smirk curled her lip, as a thought came to her after she had already left the arena. _*Besides, after witnessing you fighting those brats earlier, I now know that I can defeat you any time, Juuhachi-gou. I'm on a much higher dimension than you are now.* _

Meanwhile, back in the ring, Kibito was walking over to where his opponent lay, being held by Videl. When he knelt down beside Gohan, Videl was instantly wary of the man, especially after everything that's happened at the tournament so far. She was especially mistrustful of him when he spread his hands out over the motionless half-Saiyajin. She was just about to ask him what he was up to when golden wave of energy suddenly seeped from his hands and landed on Gohan, enveloping him. But unlike Videl had feared, the strange lights didn't seem to be hurting Gohan at all. In fact, a short moment later, his eyes shot open and he quickly sprung up out of her lap and on to his feet. She gawked at him in amazement.

"Gohan-kun!" Videl gasped.

"Gohan-san, it will take a while for you to get back your full strength," Kibito said. "Spopovich and Yamu took a lot out of you."

"Actually," Gohan said, staring down at himself in astonishment, "I'm just fine- no, better than fine!"

"So, I take it you're up to coming with us?" Kibito asked, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Yeah," Gohan answered, looking businesslike. "Someone has some questions to answer."

With a brief nod, Kibito turned and flew away. Gohan was about to follow his lead when Videl suddenly caught him by the arm. He looked back at her curiously.

"Yes, Videl?"

"Gohan, could I come with you?" she asked.

"I don't know, Videl," Gohan replied dubiously. "I mean, we might be heading into something dangerous, and you're still recovering from Spopovich-"

"But I'm perfectly fine after that bean you gave me," Videl asserted. "Come on, Gohan. Please let me come with you? You know I can be a lot of help. And besides, even if you do say no, I'll just follow you, anyway."

Gohan looked like he was about to argue with her, but when he saw how adament and defiant Videl looked, he smiled at her.

"Okay, Videl. You can come," he told her, which created a huge smile on the young woman's face.

The already shocked audience was even more so, when they saw Mr. Satan's daughter fly away with the Great Saiyaman.

"Now someone pinch me!" Sharpner exclaimed, his mouth open and his eyes wide with astonishment.

"Ow!" he said when Erasa obliged her like he'd done her earlier.

A few feet away from the ring, Mr. Satan looked up in the sky after the diminishing form of his daughter, aghast, his jaw dropped wide and his eyes tripled the size.

* * *

By now, Kaioushin and Kosumo had put quite some distance between themselves and the stadium. Their faces were matching masks of determination as they continued their silent pursuit after Spopovich and Yamu. A short while later, both their finely tuned ki senses registered several power levels- four big ones and one small one, coming from behind them and approaching fast. Looking over their shoulders, the two weren't all that surprised when they saw the Z-Senshi advancing on them. In fact, they'd been counting on it. The two deities slowed down a bit to allow the Warriors to catch up with them.

"I'm glad you all came," Kaioushin said, trying not to sound as relieved as he was feeling.

"Now that you all are here, Kaioushin-sama and I are lot more confident that we will be able to stop these people," Kosumo said.

"Is this is what you meant by in our last encounter that you hoped we could work together in the future?" Piccolo asked. Kosumo nodded.

Goku looked at the Guardian of Cosmos in puzzlement.

"What? You mean you two need our help to fight Spopovich and Yamu?" he asked. He knew the two men were dangerous, but not so that not even Kaioushin and someone in his service would be able to handle them.

"No, not them," Kaioushin answered, frowning faintly. "Those two are just pawns. It's the Madoshi controlling them that we need help dealing with."

All of the warriors stared at the god in varying levels of curiosity.

"Warlock?" Piccolo repeated. "What do you mean he's the one is controlling those two?"

"It's time that you all became aware of exactly why the master, Kibito, and I have come to Earth," Kosumo said gravely.

"A long time ago, when the Earth was still young, far out in space there lived a evil warlock named Bibidi," Kaioushin explained earnestly. "One day, a horrible Majin was accidentally brought to life by the warlock, and his name was Buu."

"Buu?" Goku repeated, sounding more and more intrigued by the moment.

Kosumo continued to the tale. "Majin Buu's strength was terrifying. He easily destroyed everything and everyone without reason or rhyme, turning the galaxy into a realm of death and destruction."

At the back of the group, Vegeta looked vaguely impressed by what he was hearing. _*This Buu fellow sounds exactly like us Saiyajin." _

Kaioushin immediately glanced back at the regal warrior. "You're wrong, Vegeta-san!" Vegeta was staring at him wide-eyed now. "Back then, there were five Kaioushin, and each of us were strong enough to destroy Furiiza and Kuura with a single blast...But four of us were killed by Buu."

Goku made a noise of atonishment.

"This Majin Buu is incredible, then," he remarked, reflecting back on his battles with Furiiza and his brother.

Vegeta was glaring furiously at Kaioushin. _*Why didn't anyone tell me that jerk could read minds?" _

_*Destroy Furiiza and Kuura with a single blast...* _Amara repeated to herself, stunned. It was hard to believe that all this time, even before the first appearance of the Super Saiyajin after the original several centuries ago, that there actually existed beings that had that kind of power to wipe out the once seemingly invincible Cold family so easily.

Kaioushin went on. "But, in the end, Majin Buu had grown too powerful and rebellious for even Madoshi Bibidi to control any longer. A time came for him to rest, so Bibidi sealed him away inside a ball so he could not move for a short period..." .

"Bibidi then sent Majin Buu's down towards this planet Earth," Kibito finished as he too was telling Gohan and Videl the reason why Spopovich and Yamu did what they did, who were both staring at him in matching amazement.. "Earth had intended to be Bibidi's next target, but before he could break the seal, Kaioushin-sama took this chance and was able to kill the warlock. However, there was still the ball that contained Buu we had to deal with."

"So, why didn't you guys destroy this Majin Buu when he had the chance to?" Gohan inquired inquistively.

"We were worried that we might accidentally free Buu in the process," Kibito answered. "So, we eventually decided to hide Buu deep into the earth. At the time, we had thought the wisest decision to make was to leave the ball undisturbed. Bibidi was the only one who knew how to awaken him, and since he was dead, we thought we would have nothing to worry about." Kibito's visage tightened into a bleak of expression. "But only recently, we discovered terrible."

"Bibidi had a son!" Kaioushin continued the tale on his side, surprising some of the others. "He is another Madoshi who definitely follows his evil father's foosteps."

"His name is Babidi," Kosumo revealed.

"At all cost, we can't allow him to break Buu's seal!" Kaioushin said crucially.

Kaioushin and Kosumo put on an extra burst of speed, and the Z Soldiers followed their lead, continuing their pursuit of Spopovich and Yamu in pensive silence.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	22. Then Only Five Were Left

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Then Only Five Were Left**

* * *

Things had become quiet between the trio of Gohan, Kibito, and Videl. Kibito's grave, extensive explanation as to why Gohan had been attacked by Spopovich and Yamu earlier hadn't really left any of them in the mood to converse afterwards. They now thought of nothing else but reaching the others- or at least that was what Kibito was thinking of. Something else, though not separated from the situation at hand, was going on through Gohan's mind.

_*Evil warlocks and million-year-old Majins...why does all of this have to happen on today of all days?*_ he thought a bit bitterly. _*For seven long years this planet has been left alone in peace. But now things are getting stirred up again...and on the day Dad returns, too!*_

He wasn't blaming his father for any of this, of course. Never! He just hated this whole situation because this was the first time in years- and might possibly be the last- he's gotten to be together with his father since he died. But now there reunion was being ruined by some evil warlock trying to wake up a deadly monster and cause trouble for the people of this planet.

Gohan's face turned into a rare, hard expression at that thought. Well, as long as he was living, he would never allow Babidi to awaken his father's creation. Though, with his father being here again, he was very confident that he probably wouldn't need to lift a finger all that much, but he would still be ready to fight if needed to.

The teenager was suddenly brought out of his musings by an abrupt strange feeling of something missing. Now what could he be possibly missing at a time like this? Then, as he glanced over to his right, he finally discovered the source of the feeling: Videl- she wasn't flying alongside him anymore.

Looking over his shoulder, he was a bit surprised to find Videl occupying the air behind him and Kibito. She was lagging behind, though not on purpose, as she seemed to be having difficulties with the airstreams, he noticed. Up ahead of him, Kibito noticed this as well, and his already severe features imperceptibly hardened with mild irritation.

"At the rate we're going, I fear that we won't be able to catch up with your father and the others," he said to Gohan. Though the teen had also known that it had actually been his nice way of saying, "The girl's slowing us down from catching up with everyone else."

Throwing a quick nod of understanding in Kibito's direction, Gohan he pulled back and drew himself alongside Videl, who didn't seem to notice as she was covering her face with her arm in an attempt to block out the air currents from her eyes. His brows furrowed together in concern.

"Are you all right, Videl?" he asked gently.

"It's this darn wind!" Videl complained. "It's getting in my eyes and making it really hard for me to fly." Then, almost as an afterthought, she said, "Maybe I should just pull out."

"Perhaps you're right," Gohan agreed. "I don't want to force you into coming with us and have something bad happen to you."

Gohan colored slightly when Videl suddenly looked at him with a odd expression, though he didn't turn away. It was if she was staring at him in a new light...which she was. It made his face redden a little brighter, and he _did _look away that time. A slightly awkward silence then passed between them momentarily, before Videl broke it.

"Gohan, before I go...there's something I want you to answer for me," she said, looking at him seriously now.

Even as he looked at her a bit puzzled, Gohan replied, "Okay. What do you need to know?"

Videl didn't ask him what she wanted to right away, looking the other way. She chewed on her bottom lip in a hesitant manner, seeming indecisive on whether she wanted to query Gohan on what's been bothering her every since this morning at the tournament. But as she looked back at him, and saw him staring at her with an expression that clearly stated that she could ask him whatever she wanted to, her countenance regained that confidence that everyone who crossed paths with her always saw, and now she was ready.

"Well, Gohan...this has really been on my mind ever since we all watched that video of the battle with Cell seven years ago back at the tournament."

Though Gohan now had a very good idea as to where this conversation was heading, he remained quiet to listen with what Videl was going to say.

"Before meeting you, I'd always thought my Papa was the most powerful man on the planet, because everyone had said that he had been the one to defeat Cell and save the planet all by himself." Videl went on, staring up ahead again. "Though between me and you, I never really believed it like I allowed everybody to think. I mean, don't get me wrong, Papa's one heck of a martial artist fighter, however it's just that the idea of him saving this entire world all by his lonesome had always nagged at me for some reason. At first, I really didn't know why it did. I should've been happy that he was turned into a rich and famous hero, and that he could now practically buy me anything I wanted...but I wasn't."

A small smile touched her lips as she looked back over him, continuing. "And then I met you. I'd kept thinking about all those amazing things you did as the Great Saiyaman, and I said to myself that while Papa was a strong fighter, he can never do any of that. He doesn't even know that people can actually fly! He just thinks that stuff like that are only seen on television. And today, when I saw that video of how he supposedly defeated Cell, I thought it was kinda a coincidence that there would be a bunch of Gold Warriors on the video after I'd heard the report of a Gold Warrior saving my city recently...the same day you first came to school. But Gohan-kun, what I'm really trying to ask you is...that young boy I'd seen on the video...was that you?"

Gohan paused for a long time after that question. Looking away from her, he then answered, "Yes."

His response made Videl look oddly pleased.

"So, was it you, then?...The one who defeated Cell?" she asked.

Another pause.

"Yes, it was me," Gohan answered with a serious expression. "I was the one to defeat Cell."

Videl let out a cry of delight."I knew it!" she enthused. "I knew that father couldn't have been the one to defeat Cell!"

Then, in a surprising move, she leaned in closer to the boy and planted a kiss to his cheek. Even if the contact had been butterfly-light, it still made Gohan's face flush hotly, burning like the rest of his body was right now. The half-Saiyajin had to make a complete stop, fearing that he might fall out of the sky and he kept flying at tha moment. Videl stopped alongside him, and gave him an amused smile when she saw him staring at her with a look of astonishment.

"What was that for?" he asked bashfully.

"That was thanks for finally telling me the truth about who really saved Chikyuu all those years ago." As she was saying that, Videl started to back away from him, preparing to take her leave now. "Gambette yo, Gohan-kun! I'll be waiting for you when you get back!" With those words said, and a wave, Videl spun completely around and flew away in the opposite direction. Though, as she was putting some distance between her and Gohan, she murmured, "And you'd better get back in one piece, Son Gohan. I'd hate for something to happen to the first boyfriend I've ever had and not even go on one date with him."

Unknown to her, Gohan was still floating where she'd left him, watching as Videl's lithe form got further and further away from his line of vision. Almost unconsciously, he brought a gloved hand to the spot on his cheek that she'd touched with her lips, blushed again as he thought of it, and then finally flew off to catch up to Kibito. And as he did so, he muttered, "Wow."

Kibito looked askance, when he saw Gohan draw up abreast him out the corner of his eye.

"Has everything been settled?" he asked.

Gohan nodded in reply. "Yeah, I'm definitely ready now. Let's go catch up with Father and everyone else."

Putting his words into action, Gohan put on an extra burst speed, flying completely past Kibito. Kibito looked after the youth's retreating form with something akin to approval, before speeding up as well. With Videl gone, the two were allowed to move a lot faster now, racing through the air like a pair of rockets wrapped in white, fiery auras. After covering several more miles, the half-Saiyajin and Kaioushin's assistant could soon make out seven glowing figures not too far ahead of them.

"Hey, Otousan!"

"Huh?" Goku said as the familiar voice reached his hears. He and the others looked behind them, and the younger Saiyajin broke out in a smile when he saw his son and Kibito coming their way. When the two had finally caught up, Goku said in a way of greeting, "Glad you could make it!"

"I'm glad to be here!" Gohan replied enthusiastically. He smiled merrily as he flew side by side with his father...just like the old days.

"Everyone! Heads up!" Amara said sharply. "They're landing now!"

Now that it was brought to their attention, everybody else could see Spopovich and Yamu alighting beyond a cluster of cliffs.

"All right, everyone. This is it," Kaioushin said gravely. "Let's all land behind those rocks on that cliff. They should keep us well hidden before we decide to show ourselves."

With everyone more or less in agreement to the idea, the group began to steathily lower themselves out of the sky, touching down on the aforementioned precipice one by one, hiding themselves behind the group of rocks that already stood on the cliff like lifeless spies. No one needed to be told to mask their ki, as everyone instantly did just that.

An unspoken consent to have a look at what Spopovich and Yamu were up to down below passed between the group, as they all peered earthward at the same time. They discovered that neither of the two men seemed to be doing anything evil at the moment and were standing in middle of a clearing that looked as if someone had rudely pushed them in all directions, forming a crude circle. Though, noticably enough, in the center of the clearing where the two men stood was also a large, extraordinary, white rock. No, wait- it wasn't a rock! What everyone had initially mistaken for an oddly-shaped stone was actually an oddly-shaped, white edifice of sorts that projected several inches over the mountainous area. However, what no one could misidentify was the very noticeable M tattooed in the center of the abnormal construction, giving the group the impression that that was the door to get inside.

"What in the world is that thing?" Kuririn asked, voicing the question that had been running through everyone else's mind.

Beside Kosumo, Kibito's face lit up with a sudden realization, and he scowled in vexation.

"I get it! No wonder we couldn't find Babidi's ship when we searching this place earlier!" he said indignantly, loud enough for his companions and the Z-Senshi to hear, but not so loud as to alert Yamu and Spopovich that they didn't come come back alone. "He hid the damn thing underground!"

Everyone stared at him.

"Of course!" Kaioushin agreed. "Babidi knew were coming after him, so he wanted to enter the planet by stealth. And what better way do just that then entering from below the ground?"

"Nothing less from the son of Bibidi," Kosumo said, a faint frown of disgust covering her delicate looking face.

"Shouldn't we attack?" Piccolo asked. "Before they have a chance to use Gohan's energy to revive Buu?"

"No, not right now," Kaioushin replied. "To free Buu, Babidi has to free him outside to avoid his ship getting damaged. So we still have plenty of time to prevent this."

"We have to attack at the right moment," Kibito said earnestly. "This is a mission we cannot afford to make mistakes in."

"Right," Kosumo agreed, nodding.

Having finer hearing than any of the others, Piccolo was the only one among the group who heard the odd, mixed noise of a hiss and the screech of gears emanating from down below. His eyes imperceptibly flew wide as he quickly realized what the sound was. The door to Babidi's ship was opening.

"Quiet, everybody," he said alertly. "Someone's coming out."

* * *

Unaware that they had been followed back to their master's base, Yamu and Spopovich had stood eagerly outside Babidi's ship, with Yamu still holding the sinister device that was now filled with Gohan's pure energy. Before the two had been dispatched by the mage to gather energy for the sleeping Majin Buu, Babidi had promised to reward them most generously if they did their job right. Boy, had they done their job right! And to think that they got such ample amounts of energy from one young person.

A moment later, the two dark warriors quickly stood at attention when the door to the ship had at last opened up, and someone stepped out. A tall, slender individual of obvious ailen origin, garbed in a sleek, form-fitting white and purple armored uniform. Like them, he a large M painted on his forehead. This wasn't their master, though still someone with a higher rank than them amongst Babidi's underlings, which was why they bowed so respectfully toward him.

Pui Pui regarded Spopovich and Yamu with utter disgust, well-hidden beneath the smug grin he wore on his face.

"So, you two have finally returned," he spoke to them at last. "Hm. From the looks on your faces, I can tell that you two were successful in your mission."

"We sure were!" Spopovich crowed, flashing the ailen fighter a toothy grin.

"Babidi-sama will be very pleased with what we accomplished today!" Yamu said with identical confidence.

Pui Pui's mouth curled faintly in veiled distaste from the news he just got. He had been rather hoping that they would fail so Babidi could see how useless the two were, just like all the rest of the humans were in his opinion. He openly smiled at them in disdain.

"Well, for both your sakes, the master had better well be pleased," he said.

Over the course of the dialogue, the three were completely oblivious to the nine figures watching them from afar on a cliff. They were now particularly looking at Pui Pui.

"Is that Babidi?" Goku asked, staring down at the purple and white ailen curiously.

"I don't think so. He doesn't look very wizardy to me," Amara commented.

"No, that's not Babidi," Kaioushin answered. "He's more likely one of Babidi's henchmen."

"Someone else is coming out," Kosumo announced.

Sure enough, as everyone looked back down they could now clearly see two silhouettes in the dark entryway of the ship. Though their features couldn't exactly be made out, it was still easy enough to see that one of the shadows were quite tall, while the other one was a lot shorter. The suspense of just exactly who the two were came to an end a moment later. Yamu and Spopvich took matching poses of respect as the two beings came out into the light, unknowingly giving their concealed guests a good look at their profiles.

The taller character was a rather intimidating looking individual, an air of great power of encompassing him. He had the unmistaken appearance of that of a Devil, as his skin was red, and short, spiky horns jutted out the top of his head, and had pointy red ears. He was dressed in blue garb that was both loose-fitting and form-fitting at the same time, held in place by a golden belt with a white buckle that circled his narrow waist. The outfit showed off his broad shoulders and at the same time revealed that he was in impeccable fitness, as a large slit ran down from the neckline to the top part of the belt buckle, displaying a broad chest and washboard abs. A white cape was attached his outfit, flowing down down his back and matching the white boots he wore. Like Pui Pui, Spopovich, and Yamu, everyone could see a noticeable M tattooed on his forehead, making his facial features seem even deadlier than what his yellow slit eyes and neatly-trimmed black goatee already gave it.

The shorter one, who was hovering a few inches off the ground, didn't really seem all that impressive, though. In fact, he could have passed for a little kid, as he had the height and built of one, if it hadn't been for the fact that he looked so old looking. The odd little being was dull yellow in appearance. He would've been completely hairless, if not for the thin strands of black hair that dotted his wrinkled head here and there. He had large, green eyes, and two tendrils hung down both sides of his mouth like some kind of whiskers. He had very scrawny arms, a sure sign that he wasn't very physically strong. He was donned in something that looked akin to a dress, the upper portion black and the bottom part aquamarine. Though, as harmless as this being appeared to be, there was something at least noteworthy about him. Unlike the red man and the other three warriors standing outside with him, he didn't have the mark of the Majin on his forehead. Instead, he had the mark on a chest plate he wore. Also, while he seemed to possessed the same air of power around him like the red being standing abreast to him, it actually seemed magnified to a slightly higher degree.

Kaioushin, Kibito, and Kosumo gasped together in shock.

"I wonder who those two are?" Gohan said quizzically.

"Hey! Don't tell me that...that the big, red guy down there is Babidi!" Kuririn said, trying very hard not to sound as discouraged as he was feeling from seeing the crimson-being. Why did the bad guys always have to be so big?

He never noticed Amara looking at him out the corner of her eye briefly, frowning a little bit more than she already was when she saw his nervous expression, then looked away.

"No. The short one is Babidi," Kaioushin declared, he and his two servants looking very dismayed right now. "But the tall one...that's...Dabura!"

"Incredible! Babidi's managed to even possess the King of Evil!" Kibito said, stunned.

"So that's Babidi- the one who's controlling everyone?" Gohan asked, sounding incredulous.

"Yes. He's not strong himself, so he gets others to do his dirty work," Kaioushin explained. "However, don't underestimate him, Babidi wields incredible magic. Bringing someone like Dabura under his command is proof of that."

"We weren't expecting anything like this at all," Kosumo grimly. "With Dabura here, this may change everything."

"Is he that strong?" Goku asked.

Kaioushin nodded. "Of course, Dabura is the Dark Demon King. He is an inhabitant of the Demon Realm- you could even call it the Universe of Evil. While one of you is Number One in this universe, in that universe, Dabura is the strongest without question."

"But it's still hard to believe that Babidi was even capable of enlisting Dabura's help in his schemes," Kibito said.

"Don't be so surprised," Kosumo told him while she was still staring down at Dabura and Babidi, her mouth set in a grim line. "The three of us know well how Babidi gets people to join him in his cause."

The Z-Senshi looked at the woman curiously.

"So, how does Babidi get people to join him?" Piccolo inquired.

Kaioushin turned his penetrating gaze on the Namekseijin; it was the same look he'd given him when Piccolo had asked him if he was Dai Kaio, and just like that time, Piccolo had to force himself not to shrank away from his stare.

"You see, Babidi has the ability to see the darkness and evil in a person's heart," Kaioushin finally started explaining, all the Warriors listening to him closely. "Once he finds such a person, he uses his magic to sway them over to his side by placing a Soul-Enslaving curse on them. And when that happens...there's no turning back for that person. He or she will be belong to Babidi forever."

"And that's why Dabura has apparently joined his forces," Kibito added. "His heart is filled with as much evil as Babidi's. I bet he didn't even attempt to struggle against Babidi's spell."

After a momentary pause, Gohan asked, "So, is that what he did to Spopovich and Yamu?"

"Exactly," Kaioushin confirmed. "That's why Spopovich seemed so powerful back at the tournament, despite being a normal human being."

"But I can say for certain that Babidi's curse won't work on any of us." Kibito told them.

"I don't know," Kuririn said, narrowing his eyes slyly and teasingly as he looked askance at a certain green fighter. "Wouldn't this rule out Piccolo."

With a snarl, Piccolo reached out, fisted Kuririn's shirtfront and glared down at him. Kuririn tensed in panic.

"Listen here, runt! Keep running that big mouth of yours, and I'll close it for you!" Piccolo barked before releasing him.

"Okay, okay!" Kuririn said, waving his hands at him in supplicating motions. As he straightened his shirt back out, he muttered, "Jeez! Can't you take a joke!"

Kosumo then looked over at Vegeta with a serious expression. The Prince caught her staring at him, and glared at her.

"What are you staring at?" he demanded challengingly.

"Vegeta-san, it's a good thing Juuhachi-gou-san didn't come along with us," she answered.

A slight flicker of surprise registered across Vegeta's stern face at her words. However, before he could even ask, Goku beat him to punch by asking, "Juuhachi-gou-san? What does she has to do with this?"

"Just like Babidi, I too can see the darkness and evil that lurks in people's hearts," Kosumo explained. "I first saw it right after match. She was very bitter and angry about something. And as the tournament progressed, that rage in her grew, as did the darkness. If she came along, I'm afraid she might have ended up just like Spopvich and Yamu."

Goku, Gohan, Kuririn, and Piccolo gasped. Vegeta and Amara just stared wide-eyed. None of the Z-Warriors could help themselves as they simultaneously envisioned Juuhachi-gou. She was grinning with open sadistic mirth and her eyes were glowing red with insanity. And painted on the center of her forehead was the symbol of the Majin.

The Warriors then turned toward Vegeta, some expectantly. If they expected him to look worried after what Kosumo had just said, they were sadly mistaken as Vegeta appeared to be more coldly annoyed than concerned about what Kaioushin and his allies had said about his mate if she had come along. He then crossed his arms, and turned his black gaze back downward to watch the scene below them play out.

"This is why only the pure-hearted should confront Babidi," Kibito said, as he and the others looked back down too.

However, no one noticed the oddly pensive expression on Amara's face.

* * *

As soon as their master and his second in command had stepped out of the concealed spaceship, Yamu and Spopovich instantly knelt before them and bowed their heads in subservience. While Dabura regarded his master's two latest recruits with a faintly amused expression, Babidi flashed them an oily smile.

"Well, well. Welcome back," Madoshi Babidi said in a way of greeting. "You may stand now."

The two henchmen instantly did as they were told. Yamu grinned smugly at the warlock.

"Our mission was a success, my lord!" he reported proudly. "Here. Take a look for yourself!"

Yamu then handed the energy-stealing device over to Babidi, who took it eagerly from the possessed man's hand. Babidi then inspected the contraption and smiled in approval when he saw the container compartment of his device was filled with a soft, golden light that he knew to be the energy he'd sent his two human followers out to gather. Both Dabura and Pui Pui saw it as well. While Dabura's expression didn't change, Pui Pui's face momentarily twisted in livid rage at seeing the very faint pleased look on Babidi's face, but he quickly turned it expressionless again to hide his displeasure.

"Very good, you two," Babidi commended. "I'm surprised. I never expected you two to gather so much energy. Very impressive."

Pui Pui let out an inarticulate growl of fury, as he listened in on Babidi praising his fellow Majin comrades. But he continued to keep his objections to himself and remained quiet.

Hearing Babidi's words of extolment gave Spopovich the courage to ask what he'd been wanting to ask ever since he and Yamu came back. "So, Babidi-sama...since we pleased you and all...what will our reward be?"

At Spopovich's question, something seemed to briefly flicker in Babidi's eyes. It was a very small gleam, though, as tiny as it was, anyone who had saw it could've easily seen the sadistic quality it held. Only Dabura noticed it, however, and his amused expression turned openly wicked. But both Spopovich and Yamu were too concerned with their greed to see any of it.

"Your reward, you ask?" Babidi said. Yamu and Spopovich nodded eagerly in response. Babidi's smile widened into a slight, furtive grin, that gleam returning to his eyes, only this time it stayed. "Well, I would be more than happy to pay you two...but unfortunately, I just checked and it would seem that both your contracts with me are up."

"Nani?" Spopovich and Yamu chorused, staring at their master in equal amounts of bewilderment.

Beside Babidi, Pui Pui's veiled disgruntled expression brightened into a mask of dark glee at hearing the mage's words.

"But Master...what do you mean...our contracts are up?" Yamu asked slowly. He was suddenly starting to get a feeling that something bad was about to happen...and it was about to happen to him and his partner.

In response, Babidi narrowed his eyes, his pupil flashing crimson and waves of golden, crimson, and green lights hovered around him as he chanted, "Haretsu Majyutsu!"

As the last syllable of the spell was uttered, the same lights that surrounded Babidi then encompassed Spopovich. The large brute let out a cry of panic as unseen forces wrapped around his entire body like a rope, lifting him off the ground. Yamu gasped in alarm and began to backpedal a few steps, as he watched his partner slowly rise into the air, squirming futilely in the invisible grip of Babidi's black magic enchantment. While both Dabura and Pui Pui watched their master in action delight, the Z-Senshi and Kaioushin and his followers were surprised and confused by what they were seeing.

"What in the world is happening down there?" Goku wanted to know, his brows knitting across.

"You're about to see Babidi's cruelness in action," Kaioushin answered bleakly, his expression dark.

Babidi's expression was one of elated sadism as his eyes glowed even brighter, resembling two red strobe lights. It seemed to have an echoing effect inside Spopovich; his inner energies began to amplify slowly inside his body, causing his already enormous body to painfully swell to gargantuan proportions like he was a balloon instead of a living person. Yamu continued to look on in disbelief and dismay. His mind was telling him to run away before what was about to happen to Spopovich happened to him, too, but his body was refusing to listen. Then, in the next instant, a loud _boom _rung through the air as Spopovich erupted in a explosion of energy and smoke.

The Z-Senshi, Kaioushin, Kosumo, and Kibito cried in varying levels of revulsion at what they'd just seen. Meanwhile, Babidi's ghastly actions had the opposite effect on Dabura and Pui Pui, as the two erupted in sadistic laughter. Babidi joined in with a few chuckles of his own, just after his eyes and body had stopped glowing.

"Ah! How horrible!" Gohan wailed, appalled. "How could he do something like that...to his own follower?" He may have been angered that Spopovich had deliberately tried to kill Videl and nearly drain him of all his energy, but even still he hadn't thought the man deserved to die like that.

"That's how Babidi functions," Kaioushin explained, his face twisted in anger as he glared down at Babidi. "He turns you into your servant, but when he has no further use for you, he kills you off. And there's not a day he regrets for doing his actions. Like father, like son."

Even though his own facial features were hard with disgust, Goku managed to look at his son worriedly, when he heard him growl. He saw his son was shaking with outrage, his teeth gritted and his hands clenched. Also, his ki was starting to sharply rise. To stop him from acting out of the rage he was feeling, the younger Saiyajin placed a comforting hand on his son's shoulder.

"It's okay, son," he said soothingly. "I know how you're feeling. What Babidi just did was despicable. He'll get what's coming to him."

Although he was still staring down where Babidi, his followers, and an apparent former follower were standing, Vegeta could still hear Goku's words to his son. Witness what Babidi did made him flashback to when he'd done the very same thing to his deceased subject, Nappa. So he could understand what Babidi had just did, as that Spopovich character had outlived his usefulness to him...just as Nappa had done to him, after he'd allowed himself to be defeated with humiliating ease at the hands of Kakarott. How ironic that he killed him for losing to the low-class Saiyajin, when he, the Prince, had lost to him only shortly after. He momentarily seethed at that reminder, but quickly controlled himself. He would get his chance to rectify what had happened just as they were done here.

Before the heartless trio of Babidi, Pui Pui, and Dabura, Yamu looked absolutely horrified. He was petrified where he stood, his entire body trembling violently as if he was standing outside on a December-rish, cold night without a jacket on. More than ever, his mind was telling him to RUN, and do it quick and get as faraway as he possibly could, but his feet was rooted completely to the ground from fear. However, when his former master and comrades laughing came to a slow halt and the three finally set their cold gazes on him, his feet finally started to cooperate with his brain. He then broke out into a brief, quick run before he took to the air zooming off as quickly as he was able to.

"How amusing. He actually thinks he can really get away," Babidi remarked, speaking as if he had just been commenting on the weather.

"Master, may I please have the honors of extermining that vermin?" Pui Pui asked, grinning from ear to ear. He'd been wanting to do this since the first time he laid eyes on them.

Babidi smiled wickedly at the ailen warrior. "Do it!"

Without needing any further encouragement, Pui Pui wrapped his left hand around his right arm, then he lifted that arm in the direction of Yamu's swiftly retreating form. Once he'd gotten a good lock on his fleeing quarry, he fired off a large blast of energy. The ki bolt quickly crossed the gap between it and its target, and before Yamu had known what had hit him...the ki blast had caught up with him, engulfed him entirely, then vaporized him into oblivion.

The Z-Senshi and company gasped and gaped again, some feeling sicker than they already had after witnessing Spopovich's death.

"Th-this is starting to get too serious for me to handle!" Kuririn said nervously, as he was backing away.

Vegeta sneered somewhat nastily at him.

"Oh, so you're afraid, now?" he asked condescendingly. "Heh! I would've thought you'd run away a long time ago!"

Kuririn glared defiantly and irritably back at the prince, and was just about to tell him where he could go, and where he could shove his comment, when Amara intervened.

"Back off, Vegeta! At least he had the guts to come, unlike some people!" she snapped. She looked unimpressed when Vegeta glared at her, knowing she was referring to Juuhachi-gou, and then ignored him altogether to turn her gaze on her mate. "But he is right. It's obvious this is far out of your league, Kuririn. So just go back tournament."

Amara looked away afterwards. Kuririn stared at his wife for a while, before he smiled at her in gratitude. Even if her tone had been harsh during her monologue, he knew that it had been her own way of saying that she wanted him to get to safety so he wouldn't get hurt.

Unfortunately, he would never get the chance to leave.

Meanwhile, back down below...

"Master," Pui Pui started as he turned toward the warlock with a wicked grin, "now that Spopovich and Yamu have been taken care of, would you like for me and some of the other men to go out and search for more energy for Majin Buu?"

An odd gleam twinkled in Babidi's eyes, as he smiled furtively at the his minion. Pui Pui lifed a brow at his lord as he started to turn toward the entrance of the ship as if he was about to go back inside, and without even answering his question. However, instead of doing that, he surprised both Pui Pui and Dabura when he suddenly said, "Actually, Pui Pui, there will be no need for that. It would seem that Spopovich and Yamu were a lot more useful than I thought. They managed to bring Kaioushin right to me, and he's with friends. Lots of friends. Even the Guardian of Cosmos is among them!"

"Huh?" Pui Pui said, looking confused.

Dabura looked anything but confused, however. "It's as you say, Babidi-sama. They're hiding up there on that cliff where they think we can't see them, all nine of 'em. Idiots. Even if we can't if we can't use the energy of Kaioushin, Kibitio, and the Guardian of Cosmos as well, we can still harvest the energy of the others for Buu."

"Exactly, and three of them have wonderful energy!" Babidi said, grinning. "Thanks to those fools, we'll have more than enough energy. I never imagined that things would turn out like this."

"What did you have in mind?" Dabura inquired.

"We'll lure them onto the ship, of course," Babidi answered. "Take care of the weaklings first, and then return to the ship. The ones remaining will follow you in without a second thought. Oh, another thing. Don't lay a finger on Kaioushin just yet. I want to make that bastard suffer greatly before he dies."

"Understood, Babidi-sama," Dabura replied, smirking sinisterly. "Leave everything to me!"

"I'm counting on you, Dabura," Babidi replied, as he was making his way towards the doorway of the ship.

"And what about me?" Pui Pui, who had been listening quietly this whole time, asked.

"Dabura is more than enough for this," Babidi told him. "Besides, once Dabura handles his part, you'll get to greet Kaioushin and his allies in Stage One. Now come inside."

"Yes sir!" Pui Pui answered enthusiastically. He followed his master inside the spaceship, leaving Dabura alone.

A cloud of bewilderment hung over the individuals on the cliff, after they'd seen Babidi and Pui Pui retreat back inside their spaceship and left the one known as Dabura outside on his own. A light breeze swept across the terrain below, making a eerie noise as it stirred up rock fragements, dust, other Earth materials, but the demonic warrior didn't even seem bothered by it. In fact, it looked as if he might be in deep thought about something.

"Hey, I wonder how come that Dabura guy didn't go back inside with the other two?" Gohan wondered aloud.

"Yeah, he just's standing there, doing nothing, " Kuririn added.

"Kuririn!" Amara barked, making her husband jump. "Didn't I tell you to get out of here just a few minutes ago?"

"Sorry, dear, I was just leaving!" Kuririn said, smiling at her nervously.

Watching Dabura more intently than the others were, Vegeta was the only one who noticed when the demon suddenly clenched his right hand, and a wicked smile sliding across his face. The Prince half-gasped, half-growled in mild alarm.

"Kuso! He knows that we're here!" he shouted loudly, making the others freeze briefly in place.

As if that was the cue he had been waiting for, Dabura abruptly launched into action towards them. In a matter of seconds, Dabura reached the cliff where everyone was. He hovered before Kibitio, his hand extended in his face. Kibito could only sit there petrified in face, knowing fully well that death was certain for him. A flare of ki begin building up in his outstretched palm and with a laugh the beam careened out, everybody gaped in awe when the saw the blast fully consume Kaioushin and Kosumo's ally, and when the light debauched, all that was left of the assistant of Kaioushin was shimmering dust.

"Kibito!" Kaioushin and Kosumo exclaimed together in horror.

"Kibito-san!" Gohan and Goku shouted at the same time.

There was no time to mourn the death of their ally, as Dabura continued his assault, and incidentially, his next target was Kosumo, as his gaze shifted to her. Not about to let herself get caught off guard as well, Kosumo quickly leaped back a safe distance. With a couple of expert twirls of her Cosmic Glaive, she drew back in a fighting stance.

"Useless!" Dabura declared, thrusting out a hand towards her.

"Dammit!" Goku swore angrily. "No more!"

Hearing him, the King of Demons looked around just in time to avoid a punch from a charging Goku. Immediately afterwards, Dabura found himself having to contend with Vegeta, blocking each punch that thrown at him. On the next punch attempt, the demonic warrior leaped over Vegeta to avoid him, and the Prince landed back down on the cliff.

Dabura immediately turned his sights back on Kosumo, however, just before he could pursue her again, he noticed Kuririn trying to move back from the others. Grinning, Dabura inhaled and when he exhaled saliva shot out of his mouth and struck Kuririn right on the jaw.

"Kuririn!" Amara shouted. She looked at him for a moment before turning a blazing gaze onto Dabura. She let out a battle cry and opened up with a rapid succession of ki blasts on the Demon King.

Dabura snarled as he batted some of Amara's ki blasts away and at the same time just barely dodged the Makanko Sappou from Piccolo. Turning and looking down, he saw Piccolo with his fingers up, knowing he was the one that tried to char him. Once again, the demon inhaled and fired a stream of spit at Piccolo and not bothering to move, the Namekseijin let the saliva catch him in the chest.

"Ahondara! Does he actually think his spit can hurt us?" Vegeta sneered with his arms folded.

"Iie! You're wrong!" Kaioushin shouted.

"That technique that Dabura just used turns his victims into stone!" Kosumo added.

Amara turned and gasped when she saw her mate's body turning stone gray right before her eyes, as was Piccolo.

Dabura chortled with dark, triumphant laughter. Then he said, "If you want to save them, you'll have to follow me." With that said, the demon spun around and flew back towards the ship, touching down in front of the entryway and heading on in.

"No, Piccolo-san!" Gohan cried, as his alien sensei was nothing more then a hollow statue.

Amara's face became grim as she flattened her hand on the texture of her stone husband; anger began seething in her chest. Why didn't she leave him back at the Budokai, she knew he was much weaker than the others and that's what attracted her to him in the first place. No matter how stronger his enemies were he fought on with his courage, that's what she admired about him most. Amara jumped very vaguely when a hand touched her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Amara-san, I'll make sure Kuririn is changed back to normal," Goku promised.

If he was expecting gratitude, he was disappointed, as Amara spun around with a very thunderous scowl on his face. She pushed Goku roughly aside and walked over to the Kaioushin, and disrespectfully grabbed him by his shirtfront and lifted him into the air.

"Amara-san, don't!" Gohan pleaded. She ignored him.

"How do you reverse this?" she demanded.

"T-the only way to change them back is to kill Dabura himself!" Kaioushin managed to get out, in spite of the awkward position he was in. Telling her all that she wanted to hear, the furious Saiyajin Princess dropped him and walked over towards the edge of the clear. In a flare of ki, she leaped into the air and streaked earthward, landing outside Babidi's ship.

"Matte yo?" Kaioushin called after her. If Amara heard him, she ignored him and went on inside.

"So that's the only way?" Goku asked. That familiar lop-sided grin appeared on his face. "Fine with me. It's actually pretty simple to do."

"Right, let's go, Dad," Gohan said.

Goku nodded. Then both father and son flew off towards the ship.

Kosumo was staring down ruefully at the same space Kibito just filled before he lost his life.

"Kibito-san..." she murmured.

Beside her, Kaioushin momentarily looked in that direction as well, feeling the same way, before he looked towards Babidi's ship.

"Those fools! They're walking right into Babidi's trap!" he said indignantly.

"This is exactly what he wants," Kosumo said quietly.

Still standing on the cliff with them, Vegeta smirked.

"Too bad for the two of you. We Saiyajin have no patience." Putting words into action, Vegeta finally leaped off the cliff and hurtled down towards the ship to join the others.

Kaioushin swore.

Kosumo smiled faintly in spite of herself. "Kaioushin-sama, I know those Saiyajin may seem reckless, but they will be of great help to you."

Kaioushin looked at her, doubt still evident on his face.

"So, will you be following them?" Kosumo inquired.

"I have to," Kaioushin replied. "They have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

Kosumo nodded. "While you and Saiyajin take care of this, I have a new mission of my own to complete."

"Huh?" Kaioushin replied, looking at the Guardian of Cosmos in bemusement.

"After everything that just happened, anything can happen now," she said gravely. "So, I think it's best to be prepared for anything from now on."

"What are you planning?" Kaioushin inquired curiously.

"I need to retrieve some countermeasures," Kosumo explained, her eyes darkening briefly. "Especially if the worst case scenario happens."

"I see..." Kaioushin said, looking slightly pale just thinking about that.

"Good luck, Kaioushin-sama," Kosumo said, bowing to him in respect briefly. She then vanished in pale blue lights.

"Thank you, Kosumo-san," Kaioushin said. Looking back down at the ship, he murmured, "I think we're going to need all the luck we can get."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	23. Hell Hath No Fury

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ. To make the story not completely like the series, I've added a few more levels to Babidi's ships for our heroes to get through just to get to Babidi, Dabura, and Majin Buu. **

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Hell Hath No Fury Like An Angry Saiyajin Princess**

* * *

Amara descended down through a tunnel, followed behind by Goku, Gohan, and Vegeta, but she was so wrapped up in her raging thoughts that she barely noticed them. She was solely focused on getting her hands on the demonic fighter Dabura, and when she did, she planned to draw out the excruciating torture she had in store for him after what he did. What made the whole thing so frustrating to her, was the fact that she had been standing right beside Kuririn when it had all happened and couldn't do a thing.

_*But how was I supposed to know that his saliva could turn people to stone?* _a voice in her brain countered.

When Amara really thought about it, the real reason she was so angry about what happened to Kuririn was because she could have prevented all of this. As soon as Kaioushin had finished telling them about Babidi's plan to resurrect Majin Buu- a creature that made fighting the Cold Empire and Kaosu combined seem like a walk in the park, she should have immediately ordered Kuririn to go back the tournament and wait for her there then. But she didn't, she had to wait until they made it to the lair of the enemy to finally say something. He was about to leave, though unfortunately he hadn't moved fast enough and Dabura got him.

_*Dammit! Babidi's plan was to obviously weed out the feeble warriors from the strong ones. If Kuririn wasn't such a damn weakling, he would've never gotten himself into this mess-* _Amara broke off with a gasp, stunned at the abrupt bitterness she had just felt towards her mate just then.

To be honest, she didn't know why she was so surprised about it. While it had been her own choice to make Kuririn her lifelong lover, deep down she had always been a little ashamed of it. Throughout her life, Amara had never really entertained the idea of settling down with anyone; she didn't even do it when she had been a child. Fighting worthy adversaries and getting stronger and stronger had always been her main goal. Still, she'd assumed that if had to choose a husband, he would possess strength that was worthy of a Saiyajin Princess. But due to circumstances, she ending up picking someone much weaker; Vegeta sure didn't help things whenever he insulted Kuririn because of his strength, only deepening that bit of self-loathing she felt for her decision. Although she's secretly quite fond of her husband for many reasons, that feeling of shame just never really left.

Nonetheless, she was still going to make Dabura pay for what he did, and that was all there was to it.

Unaware to the Saiyajins, their images were captured on Babidi's crystal ball. Both the warlock and Dabura watched as the four warriors soon alighted in the middle of a room.

Babidi chuckled. "They fell for our trap just as I knew they would," he boasted. "What simple fools they are!"

"Right," Dabura agreed, grinning.

"Oh, Dabura, I should be angry with you for letting Guardian Kosumo escape," Babidi said. "But in the end, it really doesn't matter. Not even she can make a difference."

Meanwhile, Vegeta, Goku, Gohan, and Amara were taking in the appearance of the room they had dropped in. It was large and basically empty, with the only things to note of it was a small white platform in the center of the floor, and standing on the far side of the room against the wall was a white construction of some kind with a large "M" tattooed on its middle. It was the same mark they had seen on the foreheads of those who followed Babidi.

"What is this place?" Goku wondered. "It's just a big empty room."

"There's a door over there," Gohan replied, indicating the construction on the other side of the room. "Maybe it leads to somewhere."

Amara nodded. "Right. I say we break into it and find out."

Just as Amara started to move towards it, she stopped and looked up with her brother and the others to see Kaioushin lowering out of the tunnel. He touched down nearby.

"Kaioushin-sama. So you decided to join us after all, eh?" Goku asked good-naturedly.

Kaioushin was giving Goku and the other Saiyajin a look that was anything but friendly at the moment.

"I had no choice because you all are acting so heedless," he retorted. Kaioushin looked up towards the way they had all entered Babidi's ship.

"Hey, where did Kosumo-sama go to?" Gohan inquired, noticing that she was missing.

"Don't tell me that the Guardian of Cosmos was frightened off by someone like that Dabura guy?" Vegeta asked disdainfully.

"Do not worry about Kosumo-san," Kaioushin replied. "She has other duties to tend to."

"Other duties at a time like this?" Goku asked curiously. "Like what?"

Instead of answering him, Kaioushin was looking up at the entrance they came down through. "Unfortunately, it appears that once you come in, you can't leave until Babidi's defeated."

"Hmph!" Vegeta said. "If it came to it, I could destroy this entire ship to escape if I wanted to."

"You can't!" Kaioushin shouted. "If you make a big enough shock, Majin Buu could awaken! Do you think this is just one big game for you Saiyajin to amuse yourselves with? Well, it's not! If we mess this up, then Majin Buu will be freed and it'll be it for all of us! Majin Buu will destroy everyone and everything on this planet, including the planet itself. Even at half power, none of you would stand a chance against him. Do you want that to happen?"

"Hi, hi, hi," Babidi laughed as he observed the scene through his crystal ball. "Kaioushin has come as well!"

Babidi grinned fiendishly. The warlock really loved it when a plan just came together. He looked over his shoulder back at Pui Pui. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir!" Pui Pui answered with malicious enthusiasm.

"Then, go! Go and kill them all; except for Kaioushin, of course. He's mine!"

"As you wish, Babidi-sama," Pui Pui replied, bowing in typical reverence. Without a moment's waste, he turned and headed toward the elevator that would take him to his quarry. As soon as he was gone, Babidi and Dabura turned back to the crystal ball.

"Now it's time for the show to really begin," said Dabura, smirking.

* * *

The Warriors and Kaioushin immediately became alert, when a whining sound suddenly filled the room. They then simultaneously looked over at the strange elevator on the far side of the room where the noise was coming from.

"Here we go," Kaioushin said grimly, though speaking half to himself and half to the others.

The Senshi stood ready, prepared for whoever or whatever was about to step off that elevator; although, a certain princess was hoping that the person who was coming down there would be a certain demon. So she was understandably disappointed when the elevator had stopped and the door slid opened, and the one called Pui Pui stepped out instead.

"About damn time one of you showed up," Vegeta said, his mouth curved in a way that most would've mistaken for a grin when it was actually a grimace.

Pui Pui grinned."Welcome aboard Lord Babidi's ship, fighters," he finally spoke, his grating voice filled with disdain. "In case any are wondering, we are currently standing in Stage One."

"Stage One?" Goku repeated, perplexed.

"Yes, Stage One. You see, this ship is divided into several stages, and at each stage there is a different fighter guarding entrance to the next stage. I am the guardian of Stage One." His expression turned wicked, as he deliberately directed his golden gaze onto Kaioushin. "And for those of you _want_ Babidi, he's at the very lowest stage of the ship."

Kaioushin glared at the Majin warrior, knowing that Pui Pui was clearly trying to bait him.

"Tell me," Amara spoke up, her voice the undertone of anger. "Is Dabura down there with the warlock?"

"Yes, he is," Pui Pui answered. "But if I were you, Dabura would be the least of my worries, because you have me to deal with. So, in other words, you're all going to die right here."

There was a brief pause in the room. Then Goku broke it, grinning.

"Nah, I don't think so."

* * *

Withdrawing from Dabura's side, Babidi meandered over to Buu's sphere, holding the energy absorption device. Placing the pointed tip through a small hole, the warlock emptied all of Gohan's stolen energy inside. Moments later, when he removed the device, Babidi stared down at the meter and his already-large eyes grew bigger from shock when he saw the needle was now on the halfway point. Appearing behind him, Dabura's eyes widened as well when he noticed this.

"It's absolutely amazing!" Babidi said. "How'd they get so much energy in such short time?"

"Just how many hundreds of people did it take to get this much?" Dabura wondered.

"I didn't ask," Babidi admitted, cursing himself for his impatience. "Dammit! If I had known those two were this useful, I wouldn't have killed them."

"Well, no matter," Dabura said, smirking. "With those four fighting, we'll probably get a full tank, and then some. If everything keeps going accordingly, we'll be able to revive Majin Buu on this very day!"

"Yes," Babidi acquiesced. "Come, let's go see if Pui Pui has taken care of them yet."

* * *

"So, who wants to fight him first?" Goku asked the others, stepping forward. "I mean, I wouldn't mind fighting him-"

"I'm sure you wouldn't," Vegeta interrupted him. "I'll take this one."

"No, I'll take him on!" Gohan volunteered.

"Well, since we can't come to a decision, there is one other way to decide this," Goku told his son and rival, giving them a knowing look.

"You mean..." Vegeta paused in his words when the dead Saiyajin gave him a confirmative nod, answering his question.

"Hey, I'm gamed," Gohan said, realizing what his father was getting at.

"Hey, Amara-san, you wanna try, too?" Goku asked, as he realized that the princess hadn't mentioned at all if she'd like to take a crack at Pui Pui.

"Whatever it is you all are planning to do, I want no part of it," she replied nonchalantly.

Standing nearby, Kaioushin wondered what they were about to do as well. He soon found out, when the three male Saiyajin had moved in closer to one another, standing in a little circle.

"Ready," Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan said in unison. Then..."1-2-3-shoot! 1-2-3-shoot! 1-2-3-shoot!"

"What da?" Pui Pui said, blinking at the three warriors as if they should be locked up in a padded cell somewhere. He had heard humans could be weird, and now he'd seen firsthand how true that was. "Lord Babidi told me to be cautious of them because they were strong, but they really just seem like a bunch of idiots."

Kaioushin stared with a sweatdrop hanging down the side of his head, while Amara watched them in annoyance.

Down in his chamber, both Babidi and Dabura were watching the scene through the mage's crystal ball with sweatdrops hanging down the sides of their heads.

"Dabura, what in the world are they doing in there?" Babidi asked.

"I have no idea," Dabura answered, just as bewildered as his master was.

As another few seconds went by, and none of the three Warriors had been able to outsmart the other in their game of jan-ken-pon, Amara was really beginning to grow impatient of just standing there. She wanted to get to Dabura, but she realized she wasn't going to be able to do that until her fellow Saiyajin finished their silly game. Then again, as her gaze shifted to Pui Pui, considering the mood she was in right now...

Shortly after, there was a whoop of joy- and surprisingly it had come from Vegeta. The Prince was smugly holding his hand out in a fist, while a dejected looking Goku and Gohan held out two fingers each.

"Ha! Rock beats scissors!" Vegeta boasted. "I win!"

"Aw, man!" father and son groaned together in defeat.

"I wanted to fight him!" Goku pouted.

"Well, too bad," Vegeta said.

"Wait! You mean you're going to fight him by yourself?" Kaioushin asked.

Vegeta regarded the deity as if he was a complete idiot. "Why wouldn't I? That weakling is no match for-"

Vegeta's sentence was interrupted by the abrupt and familiar sound of someone being punched, followed by a sharp cry and a crash. He and the others looked around to see the once arrogant-looking Pui Pui lying on the floor, holding the right side of his face while staring up in shock at the furious looking woman standing in front of him. Vegeta glowered at his sister.

"Amara! What the hell are you doing?"

"What does it look it?" Amara retorted. "I decided that I would be his opponent."

"But I'm the one who won the right to fight him!" the prince protested.

"That's funny, I don't remember ever agreeing to playing jankenpon," Amara replied uncaringly. Turning back to Pui Pui, Amara cracked the knuckles on her left fist menacingly. "Besides, I'm so pissed off that if I don't take my anger out on someone right now, I don't know what I'll do. So stand up, I will be your opponent!"

Vegeta growled angrily at his sibling for jumping in on his fight.

Sitting back up, Pui Pui brought his hand to spot on his face where Amara had hit him at. Then he glowered at her irately.

"I don't think it's wise for her to be fighting Pui Pui by herself," Kaioushin warned. "Babidi only gathers the strongest opponents from the far corners of the universe. Pui Pui is not someone to be taken very lightly. We should really face him together."

"Hey, Amara can handle this," Gohan said confidently.

"I agree," Goku said, "Vegeta-san's sister seems really strong."

"Why, you rotten, little wench!" Pui Pui snarled in outrage, greatly embarrassed over getting knocked down by a woman; especially when he knew Babidi and Dabura were watching this fight closely. He quickly sprung back to his feet, baring his sharp teeth wrathfully at the Saiyajin Princess. "How dare you cheapshot me like that! You wanna fight me first? Fine by me; by the time I'm done with you, you'll be begging me to kill you! All the damage you'll take will become energy absorbed by this room, and used to revive Buu!"

For the first time since she arrived on the ship, Amara smiled; it wasn't a very nice smile, though.

"Since I'm going to be one who wins, I guess it'll be you who'll be giving up his energy for this Buu character," she replied. "Well, don't just stand there. Come do your worst."

Pui Pui fumed at the woman's arrogance, his fists clenching tightly into fists at his side. The Majin warrior just couldn't get over her nerve to attack him while he was off guard, and now was acting as if he wasn't a threat to her at all. He would knock that smug look off her face sure enough; he wasn't one of Babidi's top fighters for nothing. He then drew back into a fighting stance, though Amara remained as she was. Meanwhile, the spectators in the room with them and two down below watched on silently, waiting for this contest to commence.

Pui Pui went on the attack first. He lashed out with a punch. Amara easily blocked. Pui Pui swings out with a roundhouse kick, and that gets effortlessly blocked, too. Getting annoyed, Pui Pui lunged forward at the princess again, the alien's fists and feet were thrown in a flood of punches and kicks. Amara wore a scowl on her face, as she dodged Pui Pui's barrage with great ease. Amara caught an oncoming punch, he then tried to hit her with his free hand but it was caught as well. Pui Pui's eyes flashed when Amara gave him a slow, frightening smile and without warning flung her head forward and headbutted him.

Now it was the Saiyajin no Oujo's turn to unleash a barrage of punches on Pui Pui, each one hitting him on target until Pui Pui resembled a man-made punching bag. Kaioushin, Dabura, and Babidi wore matching expressions of shock on their faces, as this one-sided battle continued on. Neither Babidi nor Dabura had ever seen the Majin warrior take as bad of a pummeling as he was now, especially after the enhancement in power he received when he entered Babidi's services.

"This is supposed to be a human?" Babidi asked Dabura without looking at him, but Dabura couldn't answer him.

"Remarkable!" Kaioushin murmured, astonished, as he now watched the furious princess drive both her knees into Pui Pui's face in a vicious combo.

While everyone else looked impressed, Vegeta wasn't. In fact, he was looking quite annoyed.

"Amara, stop toying around and finish him off already!" he called impatiently.

His sister completely ignored him, however, as she continued her abuse on Pui Pui by slamming him hard to the floor by his right arm. Keeping a hold of the arm, Amara cruelly pressed a foot against the juncture of his left shoulder, while at the same time pulling up on Pui Pui's arm. She wasn't tugging on it with enough force to rip his arm off, but more so just to extend the punishment. The Saiyajin no Oujo was clearly enjoying herself right now, ruthlessly delighting in her opponent's cries of pain. While Pui Pui wasn't the one who she came into Babidi's ship to face, taking out her frustrations on him was an excellent consolation for her.

"What's wrong? Aren't you supposed to be having me begging for my life right now?" Amara taunted, pressing down even harder on his shoulder. Others thought they had just heard the sound of bones breaking just then. When Pui Pui is in too much agony to answer, Amara releases his arm and takes her foot to kick him in the ribs, sending Babidi's soldier rolling across the floor until he came to a stop at the wall, purplish blood sliding down from both sides of his mouth. The Princess glowered coldly angrily at him.

"I can't believe this...!" Babidi said, completely thunderstruck by what he was seeing. Babidi turned to Dabura with an urgent look. "Quickly. Tell me the place that Pui Pui fights his best in."

"That would be the high-gravity planet, Planet Zun," Dabura answered.

"Planet Zun, huh?" Babidi echoed, whirling back toward the crystal ball. Thrusting his hands out, he shouted, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Back in Stage One, Amara was about to move back in on Pui Pui to beat on him some more, when unanticipatedly, the entire room's scenery morphed into a new one altogther. The Saiyajin Princess paused to stare in surprise, along with her fellow Saiyajin and the Kaioushin. This new unfamiliar place they were standing in now was in the dusty plains of a different planet. The sky above them dark, filled with several full moons. One thing that hadn't changed was the platform in the floor.

"What's going on here!" Goku wanted to know.

"Looks like we've been transported to another planet somehow," Gohan concluded. "But how?"

"It's Babidi! He changed the room with his magic!" Kaioushin said grimly. "This must mean that this world is more favorable to Pui Pui."

Everyone looked his way when Pui Pui started laughing. He pulled himself back up to his feet (though not without some grunts and winces), although was still heavily favoring his left arm. In spite of his body still aching with agony, he was feeling very good right now.

"Prepare yourself!" Pui Pui boasted. "You're own my home turf of Planet Zun now!"

Amara looked indifferently at the Majin warrior. "I'm supposed to care, why?"

"You should care," Pui Pui said. "Because here on my planet, the gravity is 10x greater than the gravity on Earth. You're done for!"

As soon as he said that, Pui Pui expected Amara to start cowering in terror right away. Instead, he only got laughed at. Pui Pui stared at her in unbelief and annoyance.

"What's so funny?" he growled. "Didn't you just hear what I said?"

"Oh, I heard you, all right," she said haughtily. "I'm just laughing because you actually think the gravity of your world is actually impressive. Let me let you in on a little secret: I've been in gravity 300 or more times this. I barely feel the gravity on this world."

"USO YO!" Pui Pui exclaimed.

"I've grown tired of this," Amara declared. "Prepare yourself for the end."

"DAMN YOU! KIIIIYAAAAHHH!" Pui Pui howled, charging towards Amara in blind rage.

A icy smile slid across the princess's face as she calmly raised her right hand, a corona of crimson ki flaring around it. Unnoticed by the others, Vegeta's eyes widened in surprise when Amara took a step back and thrust her glowing hand out in front of Pui Pui's abdomen and fired. Pui Pui let out a final scream of pain right before he was blown into nothingness by the tremendous blast.

Kaioushin, Babidi, and Dabura stared at the scene in equal disbelief.

Amara looked at the spot Pui Pui last stood before his death, her expression was one of cold vexation instead of triumph.

"What a worthless bastard," she said contemptuously. "Now I'm even angrier than before."

Vegeta was still staring at his sister with a uncharacteristic look of wonder._*That attack she just did now...That was our father's signature move- Shokeikosen.*_

Everyone immediately looked as the hatch on the floor suddenly slid open.

"Hey, look! The hole's opened up!" Goku announced, as him and Gohan moved over to the gaping entrance.

"Let's go, Amara! Kaioushin-sama!" Gohan called, just before he jumped down the entrance after his father did. Vegeta followed next.

Her face still creased in icy anger, Amara followed them. However, Kaioushin, remained behind a moment longer, still gawping from what he had just seen.

"Such power..." Kaioushin murmured, remembering how effortlessly Amara killed Pui Pui. He then recalled what Kosumo had told him before she left.

_"Kaioushin-sama, I know those Saiyajin may seem reckless, but they will be of great help to you." _

_*Is this what she meant?* _Kaioushin asked himself.

Moments later, it was thoughtful-looking Kaioushin that flew down through the tunnel.

* * *

"Why?...Why are there such powerful foes on Earth?" Babidi was wondering in frustration. "300 years ago when we came to this planet, there was no one here with such power!"

Babidi was extremely boggled by what had just happened. Not that there had been any emotional attachment to his now-deceased follower or anything. The only being in this universe he was even remotely attached to was his father's creation, Majin Buu. Still, Pui Pui's downfall was quite the shock to him. He had been one of his better fighters, and for a mere Earth woman to defeat him was truly an astounding feat in the warlock's eyes. He was starting to think that the woman and those three men Kaioushin had brought along with him weren't ordinary Earthlings after all.

"Hm. Impressive to say the least," Dabura said. "She defeated Pui Pui with ease, even after you sent them to his home world to give him the advantage."

The Demon King wasn't remotely affected at all about the death his former cohort. Him and Pui Pui had never been friends by any means. Honestly, he had found Pui Pui to be nothing more than an annoyance to the very end, so the only thing the demon had to say about that was _good riddance_.

Babidi suddenly shook his head, snapping himself out of his daze. He let a curtain of indifference fall around him, as he refocused himself on the task at hand.

The two then turned back to the crystal ball, just in time to see the Senshi and Kaioushin entering Stage Two of his ship. Babidi frowned at that scene.

"So, who will you send to take care of them this time?" Dabura asked inquisitively.

"Hm..." Babidi said to himself, looking thoughtful as he pondered on which of his fighters (except Dabura), he would send down to Stage Two to face the Z-Warriors. In the next instant, the Madoshi's face brightened as an idea came to him. "Ooh, Dabura, I got it! I'll send Raiden down there to deal with those humans."

"Raiden?" Dabura repeated, looking surprised. "So soon?"

"Yes, Raiden will definitely polish off those strange fighters in no time so we can give their energy to Buu," Babidi said confidently. He then looked over at an unimportant looking guard standing next to lift. "Hey, you! Go fetch Raiden and tell him he's going to be fighting in Stage Two."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	24. A Shocking Fight

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ. However, I do own Raiden and his home world Planet Rai-sei.**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: A Shocking Fight**

* * *

The guard who Babidi had ordered to retrieve the one called Raiden was doing just that, as he made his way down a long corridor. Being just a lowly guard, he wasn't always privy to his master's plans, but for Babidi-sama to tell him to get Raiden for Stage Two it could only mean that those intruders on the ship he had heard about had defeated Pui Pui. That was shocking in itself; Pui Pui, who had been his commander, had been a very strong fighter. These intruders just had to be something extraordinary to have beaten him.

Unfortunately for them, whoever those people were down there, their luck was about to run out as Raiden was now their opponent. Even Pui Pui himself had feared him.

The guard's journey finally came to a stop in front of a door at the end of the hallway. He took a deep breath to ready himself for what he was about to do. Raiden didn't like visitors at all. He didn't even like Babidi visiting him, and had actually been openly disrespectful to the warlock on a number of occasions in the past. It was a real wonder to him how the master continued to put up with his insolent nature and not be rid of him by now.

Feeling that he was ready, the guard stepped forward and the door slid open for him. The guard walked inside...and nearly had his head blasted off by a lightning ball had he not ducked in time. The lighting ball sailed out to the outside of the room and crashed into a wall, where it collapsed on itself and exploded, leaving a scorch mark behind. The guard saw that and shivered, thinking of how that burnt mark could have been him had he not been quick enough.

Suddenly, a bellow of sadistic laughter came from within the room, preceding a just as wicked voice that rumbled like thunder.

"Heh! That'll teach you to barge in here unannounced!" the voice said brusquely.

Gulping audibly, the guard turned around and stared into the room. It was massive room, almost completely dark in there had it not been for the dull blue light in the center of the ceiling, giving the room a bluish tint. The room was also completely devoid of any decoration; there wasn't even a bed in there. The room would have been completely empty had it not been for the hulking figure sitting in the far corner. Abruptly, the eyes he could feel bearing down on him flashed an eerie light blue, and the guard jumped in fright.

"What do you want?" the towering being bellowed.

Gulping again, the guard replied in a shaky voice, "R-raiden-sama, s-s-sirrr..Babidi-sama requires your services!"

"Babidi?" said Raiden, sounding very annoyed at the mention of the warlock. "What does that inept magician want with me?"

"S-some intruders have gotten aboard the ship," the guard explained. "They have already gotten passed Pui Pui at Stage One, but now Babidi-sama wants you to go to Stage Two to deal with them!"

"Intruders, ay?" said Raiden. The guard couldn't see this, but Raiden was actually grinning at the news he'd been given. "Humph. These intruders sound like they might be fun to play with, if they managed to get rid of that snivelling Pui Pui. Yeah, I'll deal with these intruders, all right. But you tell Babidi that it's only because I don't have nothin' else to do!"

The guard barely managed to hold in his sigh of relief that Raiden had agreed to follow Master Babidi's orders without any trouble.

In the next moment, Raiden stood and walked towards the door. The guard wisely and quickly moved out of Raiden's way, as the giant made his way out of the room and down the hall towards Stage Two, his heavy footsteps rocking the entire corridor.

Being a lowly guard may not have been much, but at that moment the soldier had never been so thankful to be in his own shoes. He knew things could be much worse, like being one of those intruders in Stage Two Raiden was about to go meet.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the ship the remaining Z-Senshi and Kaioushin had dropped out of another tunnel, touching down in a very familiar-looking room.

"Huh? Stage Two looks exactly like Stage One did," said, sounding disappointed.

"Yeah, it's pretty boring, huh?" Gohan said, laughing a bit.

"Remember, the next person that shows up is mine," Vegeta told everyone, while deliberately looking right at his sister. He was still annoyed over cutting in on what was supposed to be his fight.

"For your sake, Vegeta, the next person that comes through that door better not be Dabura," she told him seriously. Her mouth curled into a devious smile as she added, "Because if it is, then I'm going to butt in on another fight of yours."

"Like hell you will!"

"Well, hopefully, Vegeta, the next person Babidi sends to fight us is a whole lot stronger than Pui Pui had been," Goku said, amused.

"Yeah, Amara-san beat him in no time flat," Gohan said.

As the Saiyajin were conversing, Kaioushin was watching and listening to them in silent astonishment. _*It's amazing. These Saiyajin have no fear whatsoever of all the challenges that lies in front of them on Babidi's ship, and are so sure that they'll be able to overcome each of them. Are they that confident or just arrogant? Well, with the Saiyajin, it could be a combination of both, really. I know just how haughty the Saiyajin race could be. Still, maybe these four have a reason to be so sure of themselves. Amara-san defeated Pui Pui without even transforming into a Super Saiyajin, and all Babidi's underlings are supposed to be formidable. These Saiyajin today truly surpass their ancestors of yesterday in power. Maybe I seriously underestimated them, I should have paid more attention to this part of the galaxy over the years. And maybe...just maybe...they might even be able to help me destroy Majin Buu...*_

Kaioushin quickly squelched that thought. *_No, maybe I'm jumping the gun with that. I don't think even a Super Saiyajin can help me accomplish such a feat as destroying Majin Buu.*_

In the next moment, a familiar loud whining sound echoed throughout the room, and everyone immediately looked in the direction of the elevator. Someone was coming out.

"It's go time," Goku said seriously, all of the humor gone from his face as swiftly turned business.

The lift soon slowed to a stop. Everybody continue to stare at it, waiting in anticipation to see who it was that Babidi had sent after them next. The door then finally slid open and revealed- well, the heroes knew there someone inside. A very big someone from the large outline they could make out, but it was so dark in there that they couldn't completely make the person out, except for a pair of glowing, blue pupiless eyes. Abruptly, the whatever it was started chuckling malevolently at them, then it escalated into full-blown evil laughter.

_*This isn't good,* _Kaioushin said worriedly to himself. *_That laughter sounds awfully familiar. *_

Then the whatever it was stepped out- rather, stepped through the elevator, sending metal chunks flying all over the floor. The heroes were now given a good view of its profile. Whatever was standing in front of them resembled something like a man, but he was twice the size of everyone in the room, his head nearly touching the ceiling. He was dressed in dark blue armor that samurai warriors of old used to don, with an accustomed samurai helmet perched on his head, framing a craggy, inhuman face with pale-blue eyes, strands of white hair slipping out here and there. On the center of his forehead, was the insignia of the Majin that all of Babidi's followers got once they came into his service. He even carried a sword in a scabbard around his waist. His mouth pulled back in a agressive sneer, showing off a square row of yellow teeth.

"Man, look at the size of him!" Goku was startled into saying, staring as wide-eyed as Kaioushin was.

"And I thought Nappa had been huge!" Gohan said, looking at the giant with the same expression as his father.

"Th-that's Raiden!" Kaioushin said in dismay. "Incredible! Babidi even managed to possess the demon of thunder!"

While they were surprised or dismayed by the appearance of Raiden, Amara was glaring daggers at him. *_Dammit, I was hoping that it would be Dabura. Why does that rotten demon not show his face?*_

"Feh. Another stupid jackass sent to us by Babidi," Vegeta remarked, more annoyed than anything else.

Raiden chuckled horribly as his glowing gaze took in all of the fighters in turn. Oh, he was going to have some fun.

"So, you're the intruders that warlock wants me to deal with, huh?" he spoke for the first time since arriving at Stage Two, his deep voice echoing in the room. That horrible grin returned. "You all don't look like much, but I'll amuse myself by crushing you, anyway. Now, who should I crush first?"

His eyes trailed over everyone individually again. First, they fell down upon the irritated-looking man in blue standing in front of him; then they shifted over to the woman, who was giving him a similar look. Then they slid across the room onto the two males giving him similar looks of curiosity. And finally, his eyes turned to the lavender man staring up at him in consternation. His grin widened.

"You!" Raiden decreed, pointing at the deity.

"W-what!" Kaioushin exclaimed, the color draining from his face.

"Yes, you will be first victim!" Raiden declared.

"Now you wait just one minute, Raiden!" barked a familiar grating voice.

"It's Babidi..." Gohan said, his expression darkening.

"Babidi? What do you want?" Raiden demanded, looking highly annoyed.

"You will not lay one finger on Kaioushin!" Babidi told him. "He is mine, do you understand that?"

To the surprise of everyone, Raiden's expression warped in fury and he growled at Babidi's order.

"Warlock! What have I told you before?" he bellowed. "You don't tell me what to do! I do whatever I want to do!"

"Grr! Why, you disrespectful bastard!" Babidi seethed. "I..."

"What? Put a curse on me?" Raiden asked scathingly, then he erupted in scornful laughter.

"Hey, what's the story with this guy?" Goku was asking Kaioushin. "Why doesn't he listen to Babidi?

"Because, Raiden is a thunder demon as I mentioned earlier, and his kind are immune to most magic," Kaioushin explained. "Raiden may be in his services, but apparently Babidi has no control over him whatsoever."

"If Babidi can't control him, then why doesn't he get rid of him?" Gohan asked, frowning in bemusement. "I mean, he killed Yamu and Spopovich, and they seemed totally loyal to him."

"That's easy enough to answer," Kaioushin said. "In spite of Raiden's lack of respect towards him, Babidi keeps him around because he is powerful and useful to him in his ambition."

Looking very irritated, Vegeta pointed toward Raiden and said, "Demon, forget Kaioushin. I will be fighting you."

Vegeta growled irritably in the back of his throat when Raiden burst in more scornful laughter

"You wanna fight me?" the thunder demon asked. "I've squashed bugs larger than you!

Unsurprisingly, Vegeta wasn't bothered by that comment. In fact, it made that trademark cruel smirk of his appear on his face.

"Fool, you have absolutely not idea what you're about to get yourself into," he sneered.

"Argh! You talk to much!"

The fight was abruptly on, as the giant demon lifted his right foot and attempted to stomp on Vegeta with it. Naturally, Vegeta used his speed advantage to easily dodge the cumbersome blow, and Raiden ended up stomping on empty space, his foot leaving a crack on the floor. Raiden was miffed that he missed his smaller opponent, so he swung at Vegeta with his left fist, but only missed again and ended up smashing another crack into the floor. He swung with the other fist but the same thing happened. However, there was a difference this time, as Vegeta leaped onto his fist, zipped up the giant's arm, and punched him squarely in the face. Raiden was sent staggering backwards a few steps from the blow, but other than that he wasn't hurt at all.

Seeing the smug smile on Vegeta's face, the thunder demon snarled in anger. Raiden's eyes glowed a even brighter shade of blue before streams of lightning came bursting through both of his eyes. Nimbly, Vegeta backflipped out of the way; the bolts struck the space the prince had occupied a moment ago, creating a burnt mark on the floor.

Raiden tried to stomp on Vegeta again. However, his foot never landed as Vegeta caught the large foot in his palms. With a heave, Vegeta shoved Raiden onto his backside. Vegeta then went on the offensive, dematerializing and rematerializing in front of Raiden, where he started to rain down heavy blows on the demon's face. Backing away momentarily, Vegeta shot back in with a battle cry, knocking the demon completely on the floor and sent flying halfway across the room with a flying kick.

Grinning and raising his clenched fists, Vegeta did a little boxer shuffle.

"Welcome to the beginning of your demise," he said. "I promise you it's going to hurt."

Babidi observed the fight, wide-eyed.

"I can't believe it," he said, stunned. "That man is actually getting the better of that disobedient Raiden! Raiden may be more trouble than he's worth at times...but we can't lose out on another chance to get energy for Majin Buu!"

Beside him, Dabura was staring thoughtfully down at the crystal ball. Then, he turned toward Babidi.

"Perhaps it's time to send them to Raiden's home planet, Planet Raisei," Dabura suggested.

"Good idea!" Babidi agreed. Raising his hands, he shouted the incantation, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Vegeta was just about to advance on Raiden again when all of a sudden, the room started to shift and spiral all around him and everyone else. When the room stopped spinning, the group found that they weren't on Babidi's ship any longer yet again. They were standing in a wasteland admist mountains; overhead, dark, thick clouds filled the sky. Thunder rumbled like some ancient giant beast, and lightning flashed on and off in a strange rhythm.

"Where are we?" Goku asked wondrously.

"We're on planet Raisei," came Kaioushin's solemn reply.

"This is where Raiden lives?" Gohan asked.

Kaioushin nodded. "Thanks to Babidi transporting us here, Raiden has the clear-cut advantage. I fear that Vegeta-san may be in trouble. I really think we should all fight this time."

Goku stared down at Kaioushin for a time. Then a confident smile adorned his face.

"Nah, I don't think so," he said assuringly.

"But..."

Goku cut Kaioushin off. "Plus, he'd be pretty angry with us if we interfered."

Kaioushin still didn't seem very convinced, but he didn't say anything. Maybe he was worrying over nothing? After all, he had thought the same thing when Amara went up against Pui Pui, and just looked how that battle turned out. Maybe, just maybe, Vegeta would surprise by actually being able to singlehandedly defeat Raiden? He still had his doubts, but he just had to wait and see.

Over on the battleground, Raiden had gotten back to his feet. Realizing where he was, the thunder demon cackled wildly.

"Hahaha! Welcome to my homeworld, Planet Raisei!" crowed Raiden. "The end is near for you, runt!"

That only served to amuse Vegeta.

Raiden's smile turned uglier, as he then pulled out his enormous demonic sword, Raijin. It was a wickedly sharp thing, curved at the tip. Raiden raised it proudly toward the sky, lightning shooting down to touch the blade, bathing it in an azure glow surrounded by crackling electricity.

"Now die, worm!"

On that, Raiden aimed his Raijin at the Prince, shooting out arcs of lightning. To avoid the bolts, Vegeta quickly took to the sky. Raiden kept on in his attack, firing bolt after bolt of lightning at his opponent, using not just sword to do it but his eyes as well. And each time, Vegeta dodged. Deciding to change his tactics, Raiden started slashing his sword at the air, firing off wedge-shaped blasts of lightning. Alighting back on the earth, Vegeta easily knocked the blasts away like mere insects.

"Is this all you have?" Vegeta derided. "And here I thought you were supposed to be some terrifying monster."

"Why, you...!" Raiden seethed.

In the next instant, Raiden surprised everyone by jumping high into the air, his demonic sword arced over his head. Coming back down to earth, he plunged the Raijin into the terrain, and a fissure of lightning tore through, making a swift beeline towards Vegeta. When the crack did reach Vegeta, instead of trying to move out of the way, he stood where he was...and he was grinning. The grin never faded, even as the earth beneath him split open and a geyser of lightning burst upward to swallow him. The brilliance of the attack momentarily blinded the Z-Senshi and Kaioushin. Seconds later when the light did finally go away, and everyone was able to see again...

...there was no sign of Vegeta.

Raiden guffawed victoriously, as he turned around to face the other warriors in the room with him.

"Now that I've gotten rid of the runt, who's next?" he barked.

"Vegeta-san..." Gohan murmured, trying not to grow worried when the older man still hadn't appeared a moment after.

"I knew it..." Kaioushin said, a haunted look in his eyes. "I knew we should've helped Vegeta-san out. I knew he couldn't beat Raiden on his own!"

A few feet away, Amara shot Kaioushin a scathing look.

"Vegeta's not dead," Goku said calmly. "He's still very much alive."

"You'll be my next victim, woman!" Raiden decided, leering horribly at Amara. He raised his sword high over his head.

Amara didn't even flinch in the slightest when Raiden was about to bring the sword down on a high arc...well, he tried to, but his sword wouldn't budge for some reason. He tried to swing it again, and it still wouldn't move.

What was going on? Did the sword get snagged on something? But that was impossible, there was nothing behind him. Or so he thought. When he spun around to see what it was, his malicious expression twisted in astonishment when he saw a unharmed Vegeta floating behind him, holding his sword in place by its tip.

"It's Vegeta!" Kaioushin exclaimed, shocked.

Back on his ship, both Babidi and Dabura were mimicking his expression.

"You actually thought you got rid of me that easy?" Vegeta asked Raiden disdainfully. "I told you before, demon. You have no idea who you're dealing with."

Putting his words into action, with a flex of his muscles, Vegeta lifted Raiden off the ground and tossed him through the air, where he smashed hard into the earth. Rising, Raiden shakes the dirt off his helmet, and then tosses a glare of utter fury at his opponent, who touches down on a mountain peak.

"DAMN YOU!" Raiden barked, and fired more bolts of thunder from his eyes.

The amusement was completely gone from Vegeta's face, replaced by a cold seriousness. It was time to end this! Turning his body halfway to the right, Vegeta cupped his hands together quickly amassed energy, threw his hands forward and fired. Raiden let out a cry of shock at seeing Vegeta's attack easily pierce through his, but soon that cry turned into a horrid scream of pain as the blast reached him and struck, completely devouring him. When the light finally died down, a pile of ashes had been left in the monstrous giant demon place.

There was a long pause in the room.

Then...

"He actually destroyed Raiden!" Kaioushin said, surprised, as the room shifted back into old, normal Stage Two. Though, he was even more surprised that he wasn't THAT surprised by the outcome of this battle.

"I told you Vegeta didn't need our help," Goku said, amused. "He even used his old Gyarikku-Ho attack to finish Raiden off."

"He is the Prince of the Saiyajin, after all," Gohan added.

"I see what you mean," Kaioushin repiled, staring at Vegeta speculatively.

Hearing the conversation, Vegeta only rolled his eyes.

Everyone turned, when they heard the familiar whine of gears. They turned just in time to see the hatch on the floor sliding open, giving them access to Stage Three.

"Well, off to Stage Three, then!" Goku said, before jumping inside the tunnel.

"Wait up for me, Dad!" Gohan called, as he followed his father.

"This is really starting to get dull, quickly," Vegeta muttered irritably to himself. "Hopefully, the warrior is Stage Three will be able to at least amuse me."

After saying that, Vegeta went down the tunnel as well, with Amara following quietly behind.

For a moment, Kaioushin was the only one who remained in the room, turning over in his head what he had just saw and what he had seen back in Stage One.

_*These Saiyajin just keep amazing me, one after another,* _he thought, before jumping down into Stage Three.

* * *

"Dabura, this starting to become tiresome," Babidi said, watching his enemies make it into Stage Three. "Everyone I sent at them so far, they've beaten! After you, Pui Pui and Raiden were two of my better warriors. Although, I don't know if I should actually thank that man for killing off Raiden. He's always been an overgrown pest to me! I just hate I couldn't have been the one who destroyed him!"

"Babidi-sama," Dabura began, getting Babidi's attention immediately. "If you won't send me, then there's at least another who might could get the job done."

Babidi thought that question over for a moment. Then he nodded and smile, his normal confidence returning to him. "Right, you're completely right Dabura. There is one more fighter we could use. Someone more terrifying than even Raiden. For Stage Three I will send Majuu Yakon!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	25. Vegeta's Revelation

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Vegeta's Revelation**

* * *

The situation over at the Tenkaichi Tournament was tumultuous. After half the scheduled participants in today's tournament had left the arena, the Budokai Announcer had been forced to stall, stall, and stall some more. That didn't set well with all of the spectators who had paid hard-earned money to see some good fights today. Some of them grew so restless and agitated with all the tarrying that they verbally started expressing their annoyance, and soon physically as the angry fans began throwing anything they could get their hands on down at the Budokai Announcer.

"Ahh! Ladies and gentlemen! Please, calm down!" begged the Announcer, while dodging some empty soda cans." I know you want the tournament to proceed, but that's impossible right now as...Whoa!" He'd just almost got hit up the side the head with a shoe.

"Oh, why me?" he groaned.

"Ut-oh, this isn't looking good," Bulma commented to her husband and their friends, as they sat at the center of the chaos. They watched nearly all the rest of the fans working themselves up in fits of rage over the sudden halt of the tournament.

"Say, why do you suppose Goku and the others left like that, anyway?" Oolong asked.

"Something's definitely going on," Kamesennin replied, looking pensive. "Just a while ago, I felt a bunch of ki signatures gather in one place."

"You think they're in some kind of danger?" Yamucha asked.

"I can't say for certain, but in any case, they should be all right," answered the Turtle Elder. "After all, Goku's there with them."

"I sure hope they're okay, wherever they're at," Chichi said, looking worried. Then, suddenly said, "I mean, Goku-sa and Gohan-chan just have to be if they're going to get back in time and win that prize money!"

As the Budokai Announcer kept trying to do his best to calm down the angry crowd (which he wasn't doing a very good job of), the remaining contestants in the tournament watched on from the inside of the competitors waiting room. Observing from the entryway was none other than the World Martial Arts Champion, Mr. Satan.

"Humph. If this keeps up, we're gonna have a angry mob on our hands soon," he commented, though mostly to himself.

Well, since he was the champion, he knew it was his responsibility to fix the jam the tournament was in after the majority of the participants left so abruptly. In Mr. Satan's opinion, those people were nothing more than cowards, and probably left because they feared the thought of having to fight him. One thing Mr. Satan disliked most in the world was cowards, which made it even worse that his daughter had ran off with them. Mr. Satan frowned at that memory. The next time he saw that boy-wasn't Gohan his name or Great Saiya-something?-well, no matter. The next time he saw him, by the time he got through with him the kid's name was going to be mud.

Still, what to do about the tournament? He looked around for inspiration. Sadly, there really wasn't anything to draw said inspiration from; adding himself with the other remaining participants, there was only five left. Aside from himself, the others left in the tournament was Jewel, Punta, Killa, and Juuhachi-gou. Then, that's when an idea hit him. It was something so simple that he knew his loyal fans would love even more. Yes, it was perfect!

"That settles it, then," he said aloud, so that everyone in the room could hear him. "I came here today for a fight, not stand here and wait all day for a bunch of wimps who aren't even gonna return!"

With that said, he determinedly stomped out of the building. He made his way over to a group of attendants standing off to the side, locked in what looked to be a serious discussion.

Back up in the stands, a man was about to throw something else down at the Announcer, when he suddenly noticed the champion walking out into the arena. After the hostility quickly left his features and transformed into elation.

"Hey, you guys, there's Mr. Satan!" he shouted to the people around him.

People heard him, and like a domino effect, row by row, all the anger the annoyed spectators had been radiating with, turned into joy at the sight of their hero. Now they knew there was about to be some action started up again if Mr. Satan was out on the field.

The attendants stopped their discussion, when they all noticed the World Champion coming their way.

"Oh, hello there, Mr. Satan," greeted one respectfully. "Is there something we can do for you?"

"Yeah, for starters, you can go ahead and disqualify those idiots who left the tournament earlier," Mr. Satan replied. "They aren't coming back, so why keep waiting?"

The attendants looked surprised by his response. They exchanged looks.

"Do you think we should?" asked the one who first spoke to Mr. Satan.

"Well, we have given them enough time for them to come back, and since they haven't..." said another attendant.

All the attendants took that into consideration, then they all seemed to reach a simultaneous decision as they nodded their heads at the same time. They looked back at the waiting Mr. Satan.

"Okay, as you asked Mr. Satan. The fighters who left are officially disqualified," said an attendant on the far left.

The martial arts champion smiled in satisfaction. "Good. And now that that's taken care of, here's the second part of my idea. Since there's only me and four other fighters in all left in this tournament, I was thinking that we could settle things in a old-fashion Battle Royale. So what do you guys think?"

"A Battle Royale?" the attendants repeated in unison, some sounding intrigued by the idea.

"We've never had a Battle Royale before," one attendant commented.

"Why not? It might be entertaining," another one said.

"And it should calm the crowd down," said another one.

Mr. Satan watched on with a satisfied grin. He knew they would go for it.

"I don't know," said the same attended who greeted Mr. Satan, making the champion deflate. "I don't think it might not be a good idea."

Mr. Satan frowned at the man. "Hey, are you having doubts about my idea?"

"Well..." the man started.

The champion pulled up an affronted expression and crossed his arms. "Humph! Well, if you don't like my idea, then I guess I might as well pack up and go home!"

"No, no!" the man said, waving his hands in supplicating motions. "Please don't do that, Mr. Satan. We can go with your idea."

"Good. I thought you'd see it my way," Mr. Satan said, appeased. "Now, go on and have the announcer guy tell my fans."

"Yes, sir," said the attendant.

He then obediently trotted over towards the ring where the Announcer was, who'd been watching the whole thing from the edge of the ring. He relayed Mr Satan's idea to the blonde man, who seemed to really like the idea as well. He moved back to the center of the ring to tell the audience the news.

"Great news, ladies and gentlemen! The World Champion himself, Mr. Satan, has come up with the idea to host a Battle Royale with the remaining fighters in the tournament! Isn't that exciting?"

His answer was a loud round of cheers. It was long before the cheers turned into loud "Satan" chants, which the champion ate up as he rose a fist in premature victory, soaking up the applause from the audience. Though, while his fans cheered him, the family and friends of the Z-Senshi stared down at the man with less than impressed expressions.

"What a ham," Yamucha said, chuckling.

Meanwhile, still standing by herself in the entrance building, Juuhachi-gou overheard the champion's announcement. Her mouth curved into a smirk, thinking how convenient the situation had just become for her. Now she was even closer than ever to achieving her goal.

* * *

"What's taking them so damn long to send someone else down here now?" Vegeta asked, unable to hold in his aggravation at having to wait.

Ever since they had reached Stage Three (which looked no different than Stages Two and One), the heroes had to once again wait, this time longer than the last two times. And they were starting to get restless, some unsurprisingly exasperated.

"Maybe Babidi's getting scared?" Amara conjectured.

The men looked over at her curiously.

"What makes you say that?" Gohan inquired.

"Haven't you been paying attenton, boy?" Amara answered. "Everyone he's sent down here so far hasn't been strong enough to stop us. Vegeta and I easily defeated the fighters who worried Kaioushin so much. And now he's apparently trying to search through his ranks for someone who he thinks might be able to stop us, but isn't having any success."

"Well, that does make sense," Goku agreed. "It would explain why they're taking so long."

"So, you're saying Babidi's ran out of fighters for us?" Gohan asked.

"Absolutely not!"

Everyone looked over at Kaioushin after he made that sternly grave comment. He looked back at them with great certainty in his eyes.

"Babidi has not run out yet," he told them. "Remember, he still has Dabura with him."

"Oh, don't worry. I haven't forgotten about that at all," Amara assured him. The bitter tone that everyone could hear in her voice just then had been unmistakable.

"But let's not forget, that even worse than Dabura, Babidi also has Majin Buu with him," Kaioushin reminded him. "Look, I will admit that Vegeta's and Amara's victories against Raiden and Pui Pui surprised me greatly, however, I will advise you not to get so cocky. We've been greatly fortunate till now to get as far as we've gotten, but I think it would be a wise idea if we start fighting together from now on."

Both Vegeta and Amara immediately snorted at the idea.

"Hey, if we do that, then I want get my turn," Goku said with a little whine in his voice.

"Me neither!" Gohan complained. "Vegeta-san and Amara-san got to fight by themselves, so it's only right."

"Only right?" Kaioushin repeated incredulously. He couldn't get over the gall of them to say that. He was about to say something else, when suddenly, the familiar sound of the elevator coming down made the words stop at the edge of his mouth.

"Yosh'! It's finally go time!" Goku said enthusiastically.

"Well, whoever they are, don't try to hurt them too bad, Dad," Gohan said jokingly.

Surveying him nearby, Amara mused, _*I finally get to see the man who was born with a power level of 1 in action.*_

The elevator had finally stopped. Everyone stood in anticipation, waiting to see who the warlock had sent to face them this time. Then, the door slid upward slowly, inch by inch, until it finally gave away to the darkness inside of the elevator. Abruptly, a large, dark green scaly hand shot out to grip the left side of lift, the whatever-it-was hands terminating in sharp, long, black claws. Another hand ending in black, long claws as well shot out to grasp the other side of the lift, and then the creature the arms were attached to stepped out completely.

It was a creature out of nightmares. Frighteningly massive-not as massive as Raiden, but still enormous enough to make a normal person think once about wanting to try and fight it. It was green all over, with sharp, black spikes protruding out of his shoulder/upper back, and also the back of his forearms. The creature's mouth pulled back in a malicious grin as it took in the group before him, revealing excruciating fangs. The heroes stared.

"Well, he's a big fella, too, isn't he?" Goku said, staring in amazement. He wasn't nervous- FAR from it; he was just a bit taken aback as to how large the creature was. It was the same way he'd reacted when he'd first seen Raiden.

"It seems the opponents Babidi keeps sending for us gets uglier than more challenging," Vegeta said disdainfully.

"It's Majuu Yakon!" Kaioushin informed them gravely, while taking a step back. "He's an incredibly strong demon beast! We should really fight together this time!"

Hearing him, Amara scowled contemptuously at Kaioushin. *_For the God of all Worlds, he sure is jittery. He's always saying that, and yet so far we're still alive.* _

Apparently, Amara had forgotten about Kaioushin's ability to read minds, as he glared over at her just as soon as she thought that. She stared back at him challengingly.

"Well, that could very well change, Amara," he told her sternly. "So, as I told you and the others before, don't get too arrogant."

Amara's eyes briefly widened, then narrowed in anger.

"Who will I devour first?" Yakon said in way of greeting.

Goku blinked at him a couple of times, then stepped forward. "I'm your opponent."

Subsequently, everyone looked up and around as mad cackling filled the air. They all instantly knew who it was.

"Yakon, my most impressive Yakon!" Babidi spoke through his crystal ball. "Kill them all, except for Kaioushin, so that we can feed their energy to Majin Buu! And the site of their graves shall be your beloved pitch-black darkness, Planet Ankoku! PAPARAPAPA!"

Like that, the room started spiralling insanely, a kaleidoscope of swirling colors surrounding the group. When it finally did stop spinning, everyone instantly realized they were standing in a new landscape- a very dark landscape. The place they were in was so black, that there was no visibility at all. The Z-Senshi and Kaioushin could barely see their hands before their faces now, or barely see each other for that matter.

"Hey, where did Yakon get to?" Gohan could be heard asking.

Overhearing him, Goku thought that was a good question. Where had that monster run off to?

"He's hiding somewhere in the darkness," Kaioushin answered. "This planet gives him a great advantage. It's just like what Babidi wanted."

"Be careful out there, Tousan," Gohan warned him. "Who knows where Yakon's hiding at."

"Don't worry son, I got it under control," Goku called back to him.

Then just as soon as he said that, he tried to walk out further into the darkness in search of his opponent, but ended up walking straight into something incredibly hard.

"YOW!" the dead warrior yelped in pain.

No one had seen what had happened, but they could vaguely see Goku hopping around on one leg in the darkness up ahead.

"Hey Dad, what happened?" Gohan called, concerned.

"I stomped my big toe on a rock!" Goku yelled back, sounding as if he was actually about to cry from the pain.

The Saiyajin and everyone else soon heard grovelling laughter coming from an undeterminable source in the blackness. Still, they all had a good idea as to who it might be.

"Oh, that looked like it hurt," a deep, gruff voice taunted.

"Yakon? Is that you?" Goku asked, mildly surprised that the alien beast could speak properly. "Where are you? Come out we can start our match."

"Heh, heh," Yakon chuckled from his hiding place. "Wouldn't you like know. You may not be able to see me, but I can certainly see you."

When his toe had finally stopped throbbing, Goku extremely focused. He would need to be, especially when he was dealing with an opponent he couldn't see yet could easily see him. It was quite the disadvantage for him, though he wasn't worried in the least. His sense of sight may not be of good use to him in this situation but there were other senses he could use.

As Goku searched for Yakon's whereabouts, the said creature observed him in amusement from above. Yakon knew that his opponent could barely, if at all, see anything in his cherished Planet Ankoku, but he could see him as easily as he could in the light. And what Yakon also knew was because of that, he had the complete advantage in this fight. He could strike anytime he wanted to and his foe wouldn't see it coming until it was too late. He was currently hanging upside down on a rocky ceiling, his clawed feet clutching a stalagtite, swinging side to side like a pendulum, while peering down at the spiky-haired man with the strange circle over his head and also at his friends who watched on from afar. The smile on his face widened hideously. He'd get them just as soon as he took care of the spiky-haired man.

Thinking that the inevitable was being prolonged enough, Yakon decided now was the time to attack. Using the ceiling, he bounced off it like a springboard and hurtled himself toward his unsuspecting opponent. When he got in close range, the claw on the back of his right forearm extended out swiftly and he swung at his foe with the intentions of slashing him into ribbons. But to his surprise, Goku suddenly looked right at him and jumped backwards just as the strike came towards him. Although he managed to slice a tear in Goku's shirtfront, he missed every other part of him. Yakon quickly retreated back into the darkness.

"What's going on out there?" Kaioushin wanted to know. He could hear what was happening out there, though just couldn't see it.

"More or less..." Amara began.

"Kakarott's winning," Vegeta finished casually.

"He...is?" Kaioushin replied, stunned into silence.

"Hm. This new opponent is most interesting," Yakon said to himself. "He can't see me, but he's still able to avoid me." The beast grinned fiendishly in the darkness, as he decided the spiky-haired man was going to be a lot more fun to play with than he first thought.

Carefully, Goku stepped out further into the dark world in search of his evasive, dark-loving foe. He knew wherever the strange creature was hiding at, he was watching every move that made, just waiting for the right chance for another attempted attack.

Just then, a sense of danger scraped at the edges of his senses. He jumped backwards, missing Yakon's claw by a mile. The beast decided not to go away again just yet, striking out at the dead Saiyajin with all his claws. But Goku dodged each time, whether it be by ducking, rolling out of the way, somersaulting away, or backflipping away from the dark creature.

"It's surprising that you've been able to dodge me all this time," Yakon said with grudging admiration. "But I still can't see how."

"I may not can see in the dark like you can, but I can still sense your movements," Goku explained to him. "So eyesight really isn't necessary."

"What?" Yakon asked, confused. The demon beast then saw his foe's mouth curl into a lopsided smile.

"However, I do know another way to make it so that I can see you in this place just as good as you can see me!"

Goku suddenly hunched over slightly and raised his fists at his side, spreading his feet apart. Then, with a cry, Goku transformed into a Super Saiyajin, the light of his aura illuminating the once pitch-black world.

"What is this?" Yakon asked, eyes widening in surprise.

* * *

To the west, three gold lights could be seen slashing across the sky. Strange enough, while the two other streaks were still moving forward at a quick rate, the third one for some reason was moving slowly.

It wasn't long before Koji and Hoshi had finally realized that Goten was lagging, and both the young prince and princess stopped to see what had happened to their friend. They found Goten paused in mid-air behind them, looking as if he was in pain, with his knees squeezed tightly together.

"Goten-kun? What's wrong?" Hoshi inquired worriedly.

"I have to use the bathroom!" Goten answered.

"What? Now?" Koji asked incredulously. "Can't you hold it in?"

"No, no, no!" Goten said, shaking his head empathically. "I have to go now! I feel like I'm about to explode!"

Koji growled in the back of his throat in irritation at his friend, resembling his father at that moment as brows furrowed together in a frown. He swore his friend could be such a little child at times- forgetting that they were both children

"Oh, all right," Koji relented. Looking down, he said, "See that island below us? Go there and take care of your business, and hurry!"

"Okay, Koji-kun!" Goten said happily.

Not wasting any time, Goten flew down to the island Koji had picked as fast as he could. As soon as he landed, Goten hurriedly dashed to some place where he could have some privacy, and found it behind a large rock. He pulled up in front of it, quickly freed himself from his gi pants and let go with a big sigh, closing his eyes in elation.

Goten opened his eyes in confusion when he suddenly heard someone else going as well beside him. Looking askance, he found himself staring into the turquoise eyes of Koji. The two blinked at each other briefly, before they both grinned.

The two half-Saiyajin had finished up a moment later. After straightening their clothes, the two were about to go join Hoshi up in the air where they'd left her. Or at least that's where they thought they'd left her, before she abruptly stepped out some bushes nearby. The boys stared at her in perplexity.

"Hoshi-chan? What were doing behind those bushes?" Goten asked.

Hoshi blushed at the question, fidgeting.

"Well...it turns out, I had to go, too," she said, chagrined

Koji and Goten exchanged looks, then they both burst out in laughter. Hoshi joined in as she saw the humor in as well.

Just then, a bestial howl interrupted the laughter, making the kids jump at the same time. Turning around, they stared wide-eyed as a tri-horned tyrannosaurus emerged from behind the same rock Goten and Koji had been using the bathroom at. It's menacing eyes instantly fell onto the three youngsters, and from the way saliva dripped off its sword-like teeth, the trio knew that it was lunchtime for the dinosaur and that he'd found it in the form of them.

Momentarily forgetting out of panic that they had the power to destroy the planet, let alone one dinosaur, the trio let their instincts guide them, which told them all to run away as fast as they could. The dinosaur gave chase, its clawed feet pounding the earth as it kept up behind them with perfect pace, which was surprising due to its size.

Amazingly, the dinosaur was just about to close the gap between them when the three suddenly remembered they could fly and did just that, as they shot up into the air. The tyrannosaurus was startled into slowing to a stop. It looked up and saw Koji, Goten, and Hoshi floating high over the island, and growled at the unfairness of it all.

"Whew! That was too close!" Koji said, with Hoshi and Goten nodding in agreement.

* * *

Goku's transformation had really lit things up, as it was now so bright that the Super Saiyajin and the bystanders could now clearly see everything from miles around. They could even see Yakon gawping at Goku.

"Now, that's more like it," Amara said approvingly. "All this darkness getting pretty irritating."

Back in the lowest level of Babidi's ship, the warlock and his right-hand henchman were watching the scene unfolding on the hiss crystal ball in shock. Though they were particularly staring at Goku.

"What is that!" Babidi asked, stunned. "What's happened to him?"

"So?" Dabura replied indifferently. " He's just glowing. This doesn't mean anything."

Babidi turned to the guard standing nearby. "You, bring me the energy measuring device! The highest one!"

"Yes sir!"

Moments later, Babidi was holding the energy measuring device. Babidi waved the meter over the crystal ball, as he attempted to measure the energy radiating from Yakon's unusual opponent. The needle on the meter had suddenly stopped on a number, and Babidi's eyes doubled.

"3...3, 000 kilis?" Babidi exclaimed in shocked denial. "How does a Earthling have a power level of such a magnitude?"

"3,000 kilis?" Dabura repeated, equally stunned as his master was. "There's no race that strong!"

"Maybe it's broken?" Babidi wondered, shaking the instrument. It seemed all right. Babidi stared back at the image of Super Saiyajin Goku on his crystal ball. "But if the reading was accurate, then Yakon can't beat him. His kilis reading is only 800!"

Back on the Planet Ankoku, Yakon's expression of dumbfoundment suddenly changed into a horrible grin. No one was expecting what happened next. At first, the heroes didn't think much of it when Yakon suddenly let in a big inhalation. They soon realized he was up to nothing good when a heavy draft suddenly whirled into existence, but there was something odd about it. Instead of trying to blow Goku away, it seemed to be blowing him towards Yakon. No, wait- to be more accurate, it seemed to be sucking Goku's aura towards him. Then, before anyone knew what happened, Yakon had inhaled Goku's Super Saiyajin light. Two things then happened; Goku reverted back to his normal self and the place became dark again.

There was a general clamor of shock from Goku and the others after what just happened.

"Ahahahahahahahaha!" Babidi was cackling after what he'd just witness take place on his crystal ball. "Good, very good, Majuu Yakon!"

Dabura chuckled. "Those fools definitely weren't expecting that."

"I don't believe it!" Goku was saying to himself in disbelief. "He just sucked up my Super Saiyajin energy like it was spaghetti or something!"

"Muwhahahahahahaha!" Yakon chortled somewhere in the blackness. "That was the tastiest light I've ever eaten! Again! Feed me Again!"

Instead of being worried about Yakon's ability to absorb his Super Saiyajin energy, Goku just smiled. *_So, Yakon likes to eat the light does he? Well, I'm gonna give him more light than he can handle.*_

On that note, Goku raised his power again, crying out in exultation as it rose up to transform him into a Super Saiyajin again. Once more, nearly all the darkness was chased away by the brightness of Goku's aura. While his son and the rest of the bystanders stared at him in a mix of surprise and confusion, Yakon grinned at the glowing warrior in fiendish delight. More light for him to eat! Oh, this fight was really turning out to be fun.

"What is he doing?" Kaioushin asked, confused. "Why has he turned into a Super Saiyajin again? Yakon's just going to absorb his Super Saiyajin energy like last time."

"Dad must have a plan," Gohan realized, ever confident in his father. "After seeing what Yakon can do, he wouldn't transform again if he didn't have a trick up his sleeve."

Vegeta briefly looked out the corner of his eye at Gohan after overhearing him, then he turned his gaze back onto his rival. His eyes narrowed. *_What are you up to, Kakarott?*_

Amara watched on in quiet interest.

Yakon chortled. "It's so great that you're so dumb. Now I'll get to eat even more of that tasty light!"

Goku smiled. "Well, what are you waiting for?" he challenged. "Go for it!"

Not needing to be told twice, Yakon gave another big inhalation and started up another reverse whirlwind. Goku firmly planted his feet on the ground, when he felt the wind started to tug at him and his powers again. Everyone who was observing the battle watched on in anticipation, wondering just what the dead Saiyajin was planning to do in spite of Yakon sucking away his powers earlier. For a long time, nothing happened save for Yakon starting to puff up from the absorption of Goku's Super Saiyajin energy. Just when it looked like there was going to be a repeat of last time, Goku smirked dangerously and summoned up more power arround him, his hair turning a darker shade of gold.

Simultaneously, both Vegeta's and Amara's eyes widened as they noticed that. On the other side, Yakon's eyes widened as he found himself swallowing more energy than last time, and he wasn't prepared for it at all. He kept swelling, swelling, and swelling until...

KABOOM!

Majuu Yakon's lift ended in an incredible explosion. Entrails went flying all over the place, though luckily none landed on the heroes. Goku powered back down, and soon after the Planet Ankoku briefly became dark again before it dissolved away completely and the Stage 3 room returned in its place.

"All right, Dad! You did it!" Gohan enthused, as he ran over to congratulate his father.

"Ah, it was nothing," Goku said, laughing. "Actually a piece of cake, really, once I figured out what Yakon was all about."

Where he stood by himself, Kaioushin was staring at Goku in openmouthed astonishment. *_This man...he's truly incredible. I can see he really does live up to his reputation. B-but it's not just him, it's all of the Saiyajin. Have they become this powerful because they're Super Saiyajin? Come to think of it...Was Gohan even at full power earlier?*_

A little ways away from him, Vegeta and Amara stood together, staring at Goku with something far from amazement or admiration.

_*What was that?* _Amara wondered, scowling. _*It was like he just conjured more ki out of nowhere. No...No, that's not it at all. It did come from somewhere. That man...he's...*_

As Amara looked askance over at her brother, when she saw the stormy expression on his face, she already knew that he had come to the same conclusion as she did. She looked back at Goku.

_*Yes, I see the undeniable truth now, Kakarott,*_ Vegeta said to himself as he glowered at his rival. _*You bastard, it's just as I thought you would do. You managed to also surpass that wall...the Super Saiyajin wall."_

The realization of that hit Vegeta hard, and he was abruptly remembered of the dream he had had of Kakarott and Gohan seven years ago after his original gravity chamber had blew up on him, where the two had been taunting him about being able to transform to Beyond Super Saiyajin while he couldn't. As the tunnel that let to Stage Four slid open to allow them passage, he said nothing at all as he followed the others as they made their way closer and closer to Babidi, Dabura, and the sleeping Majin Buu.

* * *

"So, there's no choice, then."

Babidi looked up at Dabura inquisitively. "Dabura?"

"There's no need to worry anymore, Babidi-sama," Dabura said. "I will go take care of the Earthings myself."

"What!" Babidi exclaimed, apparently not too sure about that. "B-but...D-Dabura, if they get you too, then I'm next! D-do you actually believe you can win?"

"Believe I can win?" Dabura repeated. He laughed wickedly. "I am the King of the Demon Realm, Dabura. It'll take more than brute force to beat the likes of me."

Babidi watched wide-eyed as the King of Evil walked over to the elevator, stepped inside, and descended downward to handle these fighters personally.

"Win...You must win Dabura, at all cost!" Babidi said. The warlock gazed over at the sphere on the other side of the room. "No matter what it takes, Majin Buu must be revived!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	26. Hidden Darkness

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Hidden Darkness**

* * *

_Just when it looked like there was going to be a repeat of last time, Goku smirked dangerously and summoned up more power around him, his hair turning a darker shade of gold. _

_On the other side, Yakon's eyes widened as he found himself swallowing more energy than last time, and he wasn't prepared for it at all. He kept swelling, swelling, and swelling until..._

Vegeta's scowl intensified at the memory. He couldn't stop thinking about it, that moment when Yakon tried to absorb the light of his rival's Super Saiyajin aura for a second time. The way Kakarott had increased his power briefly and gave Yakon more than his body could bear...

There was no mistake about it. While in Other World, Kakarott had learned to transform even further as a Super Saiyajin. Vegeta knew he shouldn't have expected anything else from the younger man; he wasn't an idiot, he had known the whole time his rival had still been training hard even after he died. He himself had trained intensely as well these past seven years, finally able to fully master his Super Saiyajin form as Kakarott and Gohan had in the Room of Spirit of Time. He could even go beyond that now- a nasty little surprise he had intended to unleash at the right moment. It was also one of the reasons why he had been so confident about still being able to win the tournament even if he had agreed to not transform. But now that he had seen with his own eyes that his rival also possessed the ability, it made him wonder just how long it took for him to learn. And was the gap between them still wide? That's where his anger about this really lay- him foolishly thinking that he had finally caught up to the lowborn Saiyajin in power...that they were equals. Just thinking about it angered the regal warrior to no end.

Vegeta shifted his gaze over at Kakarott, who was chatting with his son as he prepared to fight next; his eyes narrowed on the younger man, that familiar jealous rage he had always harbored for him beginning to rise up again. With everything that's been happening, it was almost easy for him to forget about his old feelings for his rival, but now that they were just standing around in Stage Four waiting for Babidi to send another warrior of his to fight them, and after witnessing the way he defeated Yakon, it was so easy for him to remember that this man was the same upstart who obtained the powers of a Super Saiyajin before he had.

No one could see a nimbus of deep blackness burning angrily around the prince.

"Hm," said Amara, who'd just been in deep thought, when she was snapped out of her ruminations by an all-too familiar feeling.

Vegeta was angry-well, angrier than usual. Being his blood relative, but she knew what had so furious now even before she looked sidelong at Goku. Thanks to her husband, Amara knew all about the history between her brother and Kakarott. She had heard how Kakarott had defeated him in battle when Vegeta had first came to this planet with Nappa.

She knew Vegeta's ire was renewed towards the younger man because of the way he beat Yakon. Like Vegeta, she too had realized Kakarott had transformed to another level to defeat Babidi's monster. And quite honestly, that bothered her as well. That was something she could relate with Vegeta on very well- being inferior to people below their stations. Her already hard expression tightened as she briefly thought of a certain blonde woman. The same unseen blackness aura that surrounded Vegeta flared around her as well.

"It's your turn now, Gohan," Goku said. "I expect to see a good fight. You have been training properly over the years, right?"

"Uh. Well- that is...I..." Gohan stammered, trying to find out a way to tell his father the truth.

"I can answer that for you," Vegeta spoke up, causing both father and son to look his way. "He got lulled by peace and didn't do much significant training. You and I are stronger than he is now, Kakarott. Even Amara can give him a difficult fight." As he said that last part, he didn't notice his sister looking at him with an expression that wondered if she should call that a insult or a compliment. "Then again, just about anything can happen if he gets mad enough."

"We'll soon find out whether or not he's become a complete embarrassment," Amara said.

Gohan laughed sheepishly.

During the course of that, no one noticed the look of quiet awe Kaioushin was giving the four fighters. _*S-so that's why they're so confident...When they get in trouble, they can just transform and summon up stupendous power like Goku displayed a short while ago. Unbelievable...I can't believe I've been surpassed by humans of the Lower World.*_

"Hm, I wonder what they're doing back at the tournament?" Goku suddenly said.

"I had intended to fight you there, Kakarott," Vegeta said gruffly, "but then all of this had to happen. What a waste of my time it's been."

"Things are probably pretty hectic over there after the way we just left them," Gohan replied.

"It doesn't really matter," Amara replied moodily. "It's pretty obvious that Vegeta's little doll has most likely won the whole thing by now." She ignored the look her brother shot her. "Why else do you think she stayed behind? With all of us gone, there would be no one left to stand in her way."

"Yeah, no ordinary human can beat Juuhachi-san," Gohan agreed.

"Even if they were being mischievous, Goten and Koji were pretty impressive out there today against Juuhachi-gou," Goku commented. "The fact that they could fight on her level proves how powerful they are for their ages."

Kaioushin looked as if he was about to say something, but before he could, the door to the elevator _finally _started to rise upward. All eyes were instantly fastened on the elevator. When the person stepped out into the room, he was greeted by various expressions. They ranged from surprise to consternation to contempt to hot anger. Dabura grinned fiercely at them all.

"It's Dabura!" Kaioushin exclaimed dismayingly.

"Why, if it isn't the bastard I was hoping Babidi would send out next," Amara said in barely constrained fury, stepping forward, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.

"It's astounding that you humans managed to defeat Raiden and Yakon and gotten this far," Dabura said in way of greeting. "However, your winning streak ends here and now, because I will be your next opponent!"

Vegeta smirked. "If Babidi sent his right hand man out so soon, then it's obvious Babidi's panicking," he said disdainfully.

"No more talking!" Dabura said in a no-nonsense voice. "Now why don't you all come at me at once so we can put an end to this quickly."

"There we be none of that," Amara said curtly. "I will be the only opponent you have to face! I'll teach you to keep your spit to yourself!"

"What's that!" Dabura demanded.

Amara looked as if she was about to charge, Gohan suddenly stepped out in front of her, holding his hands out. Amara glowered coldly at the teenager.

"Gaki, get out of the way!" she shouted.

"Wait a minute, it's my turn to fight this time!" Gohan protested. "I know you want to avenge Kuririn, but-"

"If you don't move, I'll blast my way through you!" Amara threatened.

"Oi, oi, c'mon, Amara-san!" Goku said. "You've had your turn. Let Gohan get his."

Rounding on the lowborn warrior furiously, Amara snapped, "You shut up!"

As this went on, Vegeta watched the scene with a hooded expression. Over by the elevator, Dabura observed it all with a strange look of interest

"As entertaining as all of this is," a too-familiar voice drifted into the room, "it's time to begin the next battle. And so you'll have more room to fight, I'll teleport you all to a bigger battlefield. How about a place similiar to Earth? PAPARAPAPA!"

Within a flash, the scenery had changed once more. They were no longer standing in Babidi's ship, but on a cliff. The location they were in now surprisingly looked similar to the area outside Babidi's ship, and above them the sky was red instead of blue.

"Since you two can't seem to decide on who'll fight me, I'll make the decision for you," Dabura sneered. He pointed towards Gohan. "You, boy, you are the one I choose to deal with first."

"What?" Amara bellowed, outraged. "You coward, I'm the one who wants to fight you badly! Face me!"

"Oh, don't worry, you'll die soon enough," Dabura said with wicked assuredness. "But him first!"

"Why, you-" Amara was cut off, when Gohan suddenly shot passed her in a burst of speed to cross the gap between him and Dabura. They vanished at once. The snarl on her face turned to surprise. "What in the hell!"

It was only a second later when she heard the only-too familiar sound of battle up in the air above her. Looking upward, she saw Dabura and Gohan moving at supersonic speed as they traded blows fast and furiously. Nearby, Vegeta, Goku, and Kaioushin were already observing the battle near the tunnel that would take them to the next stage. Amara bristled as she let out a inarticulate scream of fury, wanting to not only blast Dabura into so many pieces, but severely pummel her husband's friend into a utter bloody mess for getting involved in a fight that was hers and hers alone! In a private struggle to calm herself down, Amara eventually won. With a stony expression quietly observed the battle.

Snarling, Dabura levelled a hand at Gohan and fired ki blast of red crackling energy at him. Gohan dodged it and returned fire. With a nasty laugh, Dabura batted the ki blast away with ease where it exploded somewhere beside them. Gohan grimaced briefly before he charged right back in, throwing out a right. Dabura evaded it. Gohan lashed out with a kick. Dabura evaded that one as well. Gohan was beginning to grow irritated, but he kept his calm.

From inside his ship, Babidi watched the action on his crystal ball in amusement.

"Foolish boy, Dabura is just playing around with him," he remarked. "He has no chance against the Demon King."

Seeing Dabura approaching him again out the corner of his eye, Gohan quickly spun around to fire another ki blast at him. Dabura caught the beam and effortlessly crushed it into nothingness...but while she was doing that, Gohan materialized beside him with his hands clasped and smashed them against the demonic warrior's face, hard enough to send him zooming uncontrollably.

"There you go, musko. Keep it up!" Goku called out encouragingly.

The others didn't share his enthusiasm, however.

_*He seems to be fairing well against Dabura. He hasn't even transformed yet,* _Kaioushin mused to himself.

Both the Saiyajin Prince and the Saiyajin Princess looked annoyed for more than one reason.

Momently, Dabura had righted himself and rushed back in at his young foe. Gohan narrowly managed to avoid a roundhouse kick from the demon, and then he was really placed on the defensive when Dabura began snapping out punches, and it was all he could do to block or dodge them.

_*Man, I really should have trained more over the years!* _Gohan scolded himself.

"Is this the best you can do, boy?" Dabura sneered, as he continued to press in on Gohan. "What a weakling you are!"

Gohan inwardly winced at the insult and then glowered at the demon. Like everyone else who'd mistaken him for a weakling all during his life, he would make Dabura regret what he said. When the demon went for a right cross, Gohan caught his fist easily. A dangerous smirk curled the half-Saiyajin's lips at the look of surprise on the Demon King's face.

"I'll show you I'm far from a weakling," he declared in an almost menacing tone. Then, with a sudden cry, Gohan mutated into a Super Saiyajin, still holding onto Dabura's fist.

"Now things are really gonna get interesting," Goku commented, smiling.

"Yes, let's see how the fearsome Demon King handles a Super Saiyajin," Vegeta observed.

"HIYAAAA!" Gohan roared and surged at Dabura at top speed, when the two met Dabura gasped, his eyes broaden in shock as Gohan plunged his fist into his belly, knocking the air out of his lungs. Gohan smirked and suddenly unleashed a barrage of punches onto the Demon King too quick to see, and with one more punch Dabura plummeted. Gohan followed

Righting himself, Dabura shot up and meet Gohan head on, a shockwave erupted from the two as fists and feet were thrown at each other in a raging flood. Gohan abruptly disappeared, reappearing behind the Demon King and went for a punch, however Dabura blocked and tried to smash his elbow into the youth's face, Gohan put a stop to that attempt by catching the demon's elbow.

Seizing an opening in Gohan's defenses, Dabura rushed in at high speed and rammed his elbow into Gohan's gut, causing the half-Saiyajin to double over in pain. The Demon King sent him flying towards the depths of the ocean below with a ki blast to his back.

Gohan filled his lungs as he reached the bottom of the seafloor, trying to think of something quick, as he knew Dabura was waiting out on the surface for him and if he goes out now then he'd be toast. An idea popped into the half-Saiyajin's head suddenly, he gathered up his ki and shot his hand forward, blue-white beams streaked out the ocean. Dabura smirked and eluded Gohan's attack.

"If that's the best you can do, then you might as well-huh?" Dabura whirled and almost lost a tooth as Gohan kicked him hard in his chin. And as he was floating backwards, Gohan finished him off with a double haymaker that sent the demon smashing into a row mesas, shattering them to stones that buried him. However, the Demon King didn't give him a chance to celebrate as he exploded out of the rubble and soared back towards him to exchange more punches and kicks with him.

Gohan growled as he rammed his fist into Dabura's jaw, whom quickly recovered and gave the boy a punch of his own, he then shot a ki blast for good measures. Gohan crashed into a rock-structure nearby. Dabura shot his hands out forward and fired a double-shot of crimson red beams at the rock, causing an explosion. Goku blinked dumbly at the puff of smoke where his son was, he could sense that he was still alive, but wondered if he was able to keep on fighting.

_*What the hell does that brat think he's doing?* _Amara fumed inwardly. _"He's fighting pathetically out there! I knew I should be the one to take on that accursed demon!*_

Vegeta was basically thinking along the same line as his sister. This is what happens when his rival's son stopped training altogether. All that impressive power he had possessed those years ago against Cell has gone to waste over these past several years. The thought of it sent a surge of anger through the prince.

"Dabura's a lot stronger than I first thought," Goku remarked.

"Even so, Dabura still isn't a problem for us," Vegeta said brusquely.

"Right, Gohan has become pathetic after all," Amara opined harshly.

"I agree. He was much more impressive as a brat," Vegeta said.

"Well, I do agree that Gohan really has slacked off," Goku admitted.

With a growl, Dabura flung his head back and headbutted the demi-Saiyajin in the face, causing him to let go of the demon. Quickly seizing opportunity, Dabura fired a ki blast that carried Gohan into a curving, rock structure nearby.

"Shit! This is really pissing me off!" Vegeta hissed, his expression thunderous.

Gohan erupted from under the pile of rubble and launched back into the air, moving to the side to elude another ki blast from the demon and continued forward. Shooting towards Dabura with a speed that conquered his great senses and before he knew it his head snapped halfway around from a packed punch, Gohan soon began a rapid succession of punches, blow after blow hit his face/neck/chest area. The demi-Saiyajin then jumped up and smashed both of his feet into Dabura's sternum and pushed him back a few miles before he was able to stop again.

Dabura snarled as he clutched his chest. The boy was undoubtedly strong, but he was stronger. Dabura suddenly let a kiai shout, flaring up the blood red aura that shot outward around his body. He roared and whizzed towards the demi-Saiyajin and the two met in a whirlwind of punches and kicks once more. He yelled as he fired a series of savage ki balls at his young opponent, Gohan dodged some and just simply swatted the rest. And as he was distracted, Dabura snuck up behind him and took him down with double-fisted punch that sent the boy smashing into the ocean once more.

"Khhhh..." Vegeta growled impatiently, rage began speedily building up inside the prince's body, and Amara quickly noticed this.

Dabura drifted over the lake, his eyes scanning for the whereabouts of the half-Saiyajin and after a long moment of not finding anything, Dabura smirk as he thought of a way to fish the boy out. He extended out his arms, building up his power before firing a large ki beam at the sea and instantly an explosion commenced, splashing water all over the place. A gigantic crater scarred the bottom, but the water instantly covered it up

Dabura sharply spun around when he heard a cry from up in the sky. "MASENKOOOOO!"

A blast of golden energy sizzled through the air toward the Demon King who fired a beam to match his. While Dabura was trying to fight off the Masenko, he didn't sense Gohan appearing behind him until it was too late. He landed a solid kick in the demon's lower back region, forcing Dabura to drop his conversation and to be enveloped by the Masenko.

When the smoke receded, Dabura reappeared; his clothes had holes in them, other than that he was perfectly fine, nevertheless very angry.

"I've had all I can stand of you, brat!" he barked and held out his hand and formed a long, sharp blade out of ki. Without warning he darted forward, Gohan stepped aside, absconding him.

Dabura twirled around spat at the teenager.

"Gohan-san, look out!" Kaioushin cried in dismay. "If it touches you, you'll turn into stone!"

Gohan raised his hand and the dribble stained his glove instead. Hastily, the boy took his stone glove off and cast it aside.

"Whoa, that was a close one!" Gohan said with a nervous laugh.

He looked up and breathed when he saw Dabura standing in front of him with his sword in hand and before the half-Saiyajin could react, Dabura brought the blade down and three vertical chops. Goku gasped, yet in relief as he saw the blade did nothing more but then slice off the green upper layer of his Great Saiyaman costume, and not to mention leaving a long torn in his black bodysuit, that clung tightly to his muscular curves.

Gohan looked down and frowned ragingly. "Hey! That was my favorite costume! Now I'm mad!" He blared, his aura flaring up around him as he charged Dabura, fists clasped tightly. Dabura swung his sword at him and Gohan ducked and bashed Dabura in the face. He was about to attack again, however the King of the Demon Realm regained his bearings and managed to knee Gohan in the mid- section, stopping him in his tracks.

Dabura had a look of mad merriment, as he was about to slice Gohan in half and to his dismay, Gohan's arms reached out and grabbed the blade with a vice-grip.

"Wha-?" Dabura blinked and then tried to get the blade out of Gohan's grasp. Dabura grunted, as he was demanding his sword back from the boy who held him in place and right before the demon's eyes, Gohan yelped, his Super Saiyajin ki flared up around him and he broke the tip of the sword off.

"Nani?" Dabura wheezed as he floated rearwards, looking at his chipped sword in aghast before turning a heated gaze on the demi-Saiyajin. "ARRRRGGGGHHH!" He howled and launched himself at the boy.

"Hmph! If it was me up there, this fight would have ended a long time ago!" Amara sneered; her patience was wearing as thin as her brother's. Both becoming annoyed and frustrated by the moment.

"It's all his mother's fault," Vegeta said, snapping. "Her and that idiotic nonsense about school has clouded his judgments over past few years, I'm surprised that he isn't dead right now."

Vegeta and Amara weren't the only ones frustrated with this fight. At the final stage of the ship, standing on the platform where Buu's ball was by the meter, Babidi surveyed the battle in annoyance.

"Damn it! What the hell are you doing, Dabura?" Babidi demanded. "You must do more damage to him. The meter's not moving at all!"

The warlock looked at the ball that housed the sleeping monster inside and his eyes narrowed. _*If Buu was here, these humans would be dead within seconds...*_

Meanwhile, the two combatants swapped blows for a few moments before Dabura gained the upper hand and began pounding the boy in his face with his fists.

"Damn it...this is really pissing me off!" Vegeta snarled. "That's it! Kakarott, call that fool of yours down this instant. I'll finish this!"

"Wait, Vegeta!" Goku pleaded. "Gohan's not losing or anything."

"I do not enjoy this foolishness!" Vegeta snapped. Jabbing a finger in the other Saiyajin's direction, he added, "I'm going to put an end to this so I can settle things with you! That was the only reason I entered that stupid tournament in the first place!"

"Hm?" Dabura said, looking down at Vegeta as he overheard him.

"Hold it!" Amara shouted, approaching her brother. "If anyone's going to finish off Dabura, it'll be me! This has all been a waste of my time! I could have been back at the tournament mopping the ring rickety puppet of yours!"

Dabura's visage twisted in sinister amusement. While the others couldn't see it, he could see the invisible though auras of darkness raging around the Prince and Princess of the Saiyajin as clear as day.

"Master Babidi, bring us back to the ship," Dabura suddenly called, which immediately interrupted Vegeta's and Amara's argument as everyone heard. "I've just made a very interesting breakthrough."

"What!" Babidi said, surprised. Now what kind of discovery could he have made at a time like this?

"This could very well be the thing we need to revive Majin Buu!" Dabura said confidently.

"Huh!" The Saiyajins and Kaioushin exclaimed together, staring up at the demonic warrior in varying levels of surprise.

"Really Dabura?" Babidi asked. Before he could reply, Babidi raised his other hand and called, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Within a few moments, the scenery of the ship shifted back to that of Stage Four.

"Babidi's brought us all back to his ship," Goku said.

"But why so suddenly?" Kaioushin wondered, starting to get a creeping sense that something wasn't right.

Without delay, Dabura touched down on the floor and made his way towards the elevator on the other side of the room.

"Hey, wait!" Gohan called, completely befuddled by all of this. "Are you running away?"

Pausing in front of the entrance, Dabura looked back at Gohan smugly. "Running away? Hardly. I have discovered two new potential Majin soldiers to deal with you all. You will meet them both soon, so I'm not needed here anymore."

"What are you saying?" Gohan demanded, outraged.

Instead of answering, Dabura had turned and went inside the elevator, the door closing behind him.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this, Dabura?" Babidi demanded moments later, as the Demon King touched down in the room in front of him. "Is discovery of yours really that great?"

"It is, master!" Dabura said reassuringly. "Two of them have been touched by darkness, their hearts are full of evil. With that much evil within them, we'll easily be able to sway them to our side!"

"Really?" Babidi asked in elation; this news was too good to be true. The irony of Kaioushin joining up with people who could be used for his own evil causes thrilled the warlock to no end. "I just have to see this for myself."

* * *

"What do you supposed all of that was about?" Gohan, back in his base form, was wondering.

"Yeah, Dabura said he found two new people for us," Goku said.

"I don't like the sound of this at all..." Kaioushin said grimly, suddenly struck with the feeling that something very bad was about to happen.

In the next moment, a disgusted looking Vegeta confronted Gohan.

"You incompetent moron! What the hell did you think you were doing out there just then!" he demanded furiously. "Your fighting performance was absolutely pathetic, and to think the power of a Saiyajin flows through your blood!"

"Vegeta-san, I..." Gohan started hestitantly.

"If it weren't for you stepping in my way, Dabura would be dead now, and Kuririn and that Namekseijin of yours would be freed now," Amara added coldly furiously.

"That's enough you guys," Goku said sternly, thinking it was time for him to cut in.

"Oh shut up, Kakarott!" Vegeta snapped back, whirling to acknowledge him. "You're no better than he is. If it wasn't for you always wanting to save the day, we wouldn't even be here; we'd still be at the tournament finally finishing our fight! Those stupid friends of yours also wouldn't be stone figurines now. Do you want to know they weren't taken out first, it was because they're WEAK!"

"Vegeta..." Goku began.

"You're just as weak and soft as brat of yours! If it had been me up there, I would have been shoved fist through his chest and ripped his heart out and also the wimpy human and the Namekseijin would have been freed now!" The more Vegeta talked, the harsher his voice came, making Gohan drop his head in total shame, Vegeta's voice almost frighten Kaioushin in the far corner.

"Pipe up, Vegeta!" Amara snapped, stepping into the conversation, her eyes glittering spitefully. "I've had all I stand of listen to you griping!"

"Well then do something about it?" Vegeta taunted.

Gritting her teeth, Amara's hand started crackling with energy. "I will do something about it! I'll blow this fucking ship into charred scrap metal!"

Vegeta grinned fiercely, ki building up in his left hand.

However before the two could fire, Kaioushin walked up to the two and stepped in between them, grabbing them by the arms to stop them.

"Chotto matte! Haven't you two been listening?" Kaioushin pleaded. "Releasing any ki could free Buu, and he will wreak havoc all over planet Earth!"

Back in the Final Stage, Babidi was grinning ear-to-ear as he watched Kaioushin trying to stop Vegeta and Amara from unleashing their ki. When Kaioushin eventually succeeded, both Vegeta and Amara roughly snatched away from his mortal enemy. The warlock laughed.

"Great find, Dabura," Babidi commended. "They're both definitely different from the others; they don't care about defeating evil at all. Yes, they will make excellent Majin warriors. With their help, Buu will be free in no time!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	27. And The New Recruits Are

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Note: Since Majin means "demon human", I've changed the Majin in front of Juuhachi's name while she's under Babidi spell into Majinzou for "demon artificial human".**

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: And The New Recruits Are...**

* * *

The silence in the room was thick as the tension. After Kaioushin had managed to miraculously stop the hot-headed Saiyajin Prince and Princess from blowing up the ship and accidentally releasing Majin Buu in the process, everyone had fallen silent. But what was at the forefront of his mind was what Dabura had told him and the others after he stopped his fight so abruptly with Gohan and retreated back to Babidi's side. He had said that he'd found two more recruits to join Babidi's cause. But who? Who could they be?

Wait, unless...

Kaioushin's dark eyes broadened in apprehension, as he turned toward the four Saiyajin. The two enlistees Dabura had spoken of must have been two of the four Saiyajin in this room! But which set, though?

The deity's eyes narrowed as he stared from Saiyajin to Saiyajin. He really wished Kosumo was there with him at that moment, as her ability to the see the evil and darkness within a person would have been very useful right now.

The first Saiyajin Kaioushin's eyes fell upon was Goku. A part of Kaioushin wanted to dismiss him as Babidi's new recruit right away, especially after hearing of all the heroic things Goku's done for the Earth and the universe in the past. But his suspicious nature reminded him that even if Goku seemed innocent on the outside, he could be harboring a darkness underneath that facade. When a moment had passed by and he hadn't seen Goku do anything other than yawn from boredom, Kaioushin's eyes then trailed over to Gohan. Surely the son of Goku couldn't be Babidi's possible recruit, could he? Look, he even had that same look of innocence in his eyes that his father had. Still, Kaioushin gave Son Gohan a due looking over, hoping to beings even higher than him that it wasn't Gohan. Who knows what kind of destruction and chaos Gohan could cause if he were one of Babidi's Majin warriors. Kaioushin's eyes finally wandered onto Vegeta and Amara...and the deity automatically froze in place when he saw the fierce scowls on both the regal warriors' faces, both smoldering with rage. Cold recognition immediately sunk into his head.

_*Chotto matte! Iie! Not them! It can't be!* _he exclaimed to himself in denial. Then Kaioushin's eyes widened in horrid resignation. _*But if it's not Gohan-san or Goku-san, then those two have to be the two new recruits! I have to warn them both before it's too late-*_

It was too late.

Goku and Gohan were brought out of their musings when they heard agonized screams from behind them all of a sudden. Turning at the same time, father and son looked surprised, confused, and worried all at once when they discovered that the screams had come from Vegeta and Amara. Something seemed to be causing them both unbearable pain, holding the sides of their heads. Kaioushin could only stare in growing terror.

"What's wrong with you two?" Goku asked worriedly, watching helplessly as Vegeta and Amara continued to twitch and convulse.

"I...don't...know!" Vegeta growled out with difficulty, as he continued to try and keep a grip on himself.

"It feel...as if...something's...attacking me...on the i-inside!" Amara hissed between her clench teeth.

"What's going on here?" Gohan wondered, really wishing he could do something to ease the pain his comrades seemed to be in, but like his father he could only stand by and look on powerlessly.

"No, it's Babidi!" Kaioushin shouted. "He's trying to possess them!"

Both Goku and Gohan gasped in alarm.

The bystanders in the room watched in stunned silence as Vegeta's and Amara's screams went to new heights and intensity, and they both transformed to Super Saiyajin. But something looked wrong about the Prince's and Princess's transformation. The onlookers could tell by the red, crackling energy that were interweaving with blue, crackling energy through their auras and around their bodies. Veins appeared on their foreheads, bulging so furiously that it looked as if they veins would explode at any moment now.

Trepidation flowed through Kaioushin's veins as he suffered a horrible vision of Babidi successfully bringing the two Saiyajin over to his side and all the subsequent destruction they would cause, resulting in Majin Buu's return. He just had to find some way to stop this. "Vegeta-san! Amara-san! You must fight Babidi! You two are much stronger than Babidi's magic! You can't let him get to you! If he does, Majin Buu will be released from his ball for sure!"

"Shut up!" Vegeta surprisingly snapped back.

"Dammit! You all are really pissing me off!" Amara declared.

"Alright, that's it! They're already mine!" Babidi cheered. He laughed in victory. "While I'm at it, I'll draw out both their hidden powers to their limits!"

So saying, his hands clutching his crystal ball in baleful eagerness, emanating multihued lights that crawled all over the clear orb. Through the crystal ball, both Babidi and his number one henchmen could see those very same lights surrounding the Prince and Princess. However, in the next instant, they couldn't see anything, when a blinding brilliance erupted from both Vegeta's and Amara's body.

* * *

Unaware of what has been done to her husband and her rival, nor did she really care to know what they were doing right now, Juuhachi-gou was completely focused on winning her match and nothing else. No, to be more accurate, win the grand prize money. But the only thing standing in her way were four mere weaklings.

Her and the remaining participants in the tournament were all standing in the ring, as it was nearly time for the Battle Royale to commence. While she still thought Mr. Satan was a idiot, she found herself having to slightly change her mind about just how stupid she originally thought he was. She actually found this Battle Royale to be a good, as it gave her the chance to take care of four birds with one stone.

Without warning, a strange feeling then struck her; Juuhachi-gou's eyes imperceptibly widened. Unconsciously, she brought her right hand to her chest where her heart was. She had just felt Vegeta. His ki...and wherever he was something was wrong. Very wrong.

Has something happen to him?

As Juuhachi-gou looked up at Mr. Satan and her other opponents, a strong surge of coldness and bitterness ran through her. If Vegeta had gotten himself in trouble, why should she care? She knew he wouldn't care if the shoe was on the other foot. It was his fault she had to do all of this in the first place. If he was stupid enough to run that big mouth of his- and she knew he did- and get himself in a situation that was too much out of his league, then that his was problem, not hers. Besides, he had Gohan, Goku and the others there with him to help. With that knowledge, Juuhachi-gou put Vegeta completely out of her mind.

Then the Announcer shouted, "BEGIN!"

Smirking, Juuhachi-gou charged into action.

* * *

After several long moments, the light had finally began to ebb away until it was clear enough for everyone to see. Goku was thankful when the tones in brilliance had dropped back down to a tolerable level. Blinking a few times, he got his eyesight back in focus and immediately looked across the other side of the room where Vegeta and Amara were, hoping they were okay. He didn't like what he found. He, Gohan, and Kaioushin could only stare in stunned consternation at last two of the royal Saiyajin family.

The royal siblings stood side-by-side before the three onlookers, still glowing under their Super Saiyajin auras, with the occasional lightning bolt crackling around them. Probably anyone who's never laid eyes on Vegeta and Amara before could tell that there was something horribly wrong with the two of them. The dark outlining of their eyes were thicker and darker than they normally were, their muscles had grown to outrageous proportions (though, not all that much for Amara to make her look freakish; she still kept her slender, curvy frame, but her arms and legs were just a little bit thicker with muscle than they usually were), identical, maniacal expressions covered their faces, and now painted on their foreheads were a unmistakable M, signifying their loyalty to Madoshi Babidi.

"Vegeta-san? Amara-san?...Are you all right?" Gohan asked cautiously, though he didn't dare approach.

Kaioushin's skin, already pale to begin, was as white as a sheet now. He then lowered his head in defeat. "It's too late...they're both ready under his power!"

Goku and Gohan gasped sharply and gaped at Kaioushin for a second, and then looked over at the other Saiyajin in dismay. Although the two of them didn't want to believe Kaioushin's words, they still knew he was telling the truth. Like Babidi's spell had done for Yamu and Spopovich, it increased Vegeta's and Amara's ki a lot, although theirs to stupendous levels since they were already powerful to begin with.

As Goku's eyes shifted over to Vegeta, he saw that the Prince was looking directly back at him, grinning mercilessly and coldly. Goku battered down the urge to shiver when he saw an insane light gleaming in the Prince's bright blue-green eyes. It had been the same gleam he'd seen in Vegeta's eyes when they had first crossed paths so many years ago. Right before his eyes, in a matter of minutes, Vegeta had been turned back into that cold killer he had once been before he changed. And even if Vegeta wouldn't say so aloud, he had changed. He couldn't exactly put it into words how he seemed so different from the Vegeta he last saw before he died, but he could sense it earlier while they were at the tournament. He wondered briefly did it have something to do with having a family, but a thought struck him. What about Juuhachi-gou and Koji? What would they do when they found out that Vegeta had been turned evil again?

If Goku could read Vegeta's mind, he would have known that the Prince's family was far, far, far from his mind. In fact, at that moment, as far as Vegeta was concerned, he had no family. There was only him by his lonesome, as it always should be, the Prince of all Saiyajin. And with nothing standing in his way now, Vegeta could now do something he had been itching to do ever since that fateful that when he had been humbled by a mere lowly warrior. He was now able to have the rematch with Kakarott that he had been craving for so long, that it nearly drove him insane when the third-class Saiyajin had died, escaping his grasp again. But now, Kakarott was back and he wouldn't allow him to escape again before he got his retribution. Nothing was going to stand in his way.

Not Kakarott's brat or that loser Kaioushin, or...his so-called family.

"May I have your attention, please!" Babidi's obnoxious voice called from somewhere above the group, causing everyone to look up, except for his new Majin slaves. "I sense a potential battle brewing here! So, to be helpful, I've decided to move you all to another location so you can beat the snot out of one another!" Babidi announced gleefully. "PAPARAPAPA!"

Once again the room swirled and churned dizzyingly around the Warriors, and the only thing anyone could do was allow themselves be awash in the spell and be taken to wherever it is Babidi had sent them to next.

Mr. Satan was starting to swiftly regret his idea for this Battle Royale. As he had been pondering on who he would attack first, Juuhachi-gou had taken out Punta, Killa, and Jewel with the simplest of ease in a mere matter of moments. Mr. Satan was immediately put into a state of shock. It all came down to the two of them, as to who would be the winner of the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai.

It had been a long time since Juuhachi-gou was able to feel completely arrogant. The last time had been when she fought Amara. And why shouldn't she feel arrogant? There was no one there at the tournament who could pose a threat to her goal of becoming ten million zenni richer, and she could beat Mr. Satan with just one finger.

The smile adorning her pretty face was near evil as she gave her opponent an appraising look. Even now he tried to look brave in front of his loyal fans, getting himself in a fighting posture. As if he had a real chance, said a disdainful voice in her head. Unlike Mr. Satan's supporters, Juuhachi-gou could see that behind that facade of his that he was very, very, very scared. Why, he acted as if she was going to kill him or something.

Sure, the idea _had _crossed her mind, especially after watching that cheesy movie of him supposedly defeating Cell and her thanking him for his heroism with a kiss earlier. Fortunately for him, though she had already decided a long time ago that she wasn't going to really fight him, because she didn't want to exactly win the whole tournament. All she wanted was just the prize money; that had been the main reason why she fixed it so that he and her were the only ones left remaining in the ring. She didn't want to win and have all those obnoxious reporters harassing her and her family, which was something they should feel glad for considering the family she had. And with Mr. Satan's-misappropriate- fame and success, he was undoubtedly filthy rich.

She was just about to go pitch her little bargain to the frightened man when suddenly...an unnatural wind blew into existence in the center of the ring. While Juuhachi-gou withstood it stolidly, Mr. Satan was almost completely out of the ring. But then that same luck that allowed him to fool nearly the whole world into believing he defeated Cell had returned in the nick of time, as he managed to keep himself from losing the match by ring-out by hanging onto the edge of the ring with his hands and legs with a death grip.

When Juuhachi-gou looked forward, sheer surprise replaced the haughty expression that had been on her face just seconds ago, as she saw Vegeta and Amara standing in front of her, and through the gap between them, she could also see a startled looking Goku, Gohan, and Kaioushin standing on the other side. The Jinzouningen could also make out that a tiled floor with a hatch door in the center, dominating most of the ring.

What was going on here?

"Nande? Why are we back at the Budokai?" Goku wondered, looking around at all the spectators in confusion, who stared back at him with the same expression.

From the stands, Chichi's face lit up when she spotted her son and husband right away.

"Oii! There's Goku-sa and Gohan-chan!" she cheered. "Maybe will still have a chance to win the prize money after all!"

"But the Announcer said they were disqualified before the Battle Royale started, didn't he?" said Puar. Chichi's cheerful mood was instantly darkened by the reminder.

"You're right," she grumbled. "Someone remind me to kick Goku's butt before he leave!"

"Say, doesn't something look strange about Vegeta-san and Amara-san to you guys?" Bulma asked, her eyebrows furrowing in concern as she stared down at the Saiyajin Prince and Princess.

Everyone else looked down. While most of them really couldn't sense ki, they still couldn't help but to shiver when they saw the eerie appearance of Vegeta and Amara.

"Hm. Something does seem different about them," Chichi agreed.

"I'll tell you what's different about them," Yamucha said, looking very grave. "Somehow, wherever they went, Vegeta and Amara managed to get a whole lot stronger than they had been before they left!"

"What!" everyone exclaimed.

"Yamucha's right," Muten Roshi agreed, sounding just as earnest, his place brows creased. "I can definitely feel a change within the two of them. Their ki feels incredible, but...it also feels _wrong_."

"What do you mean wrong?" Chichi wanted to know, the concern that could be heard in her voice hadn't been mistaken.

"It feels evil...like Cell's power!" Roshi answered, extracting gasps from the others.

Meanwhile, back in the ring, the surprise of her husband and the others appearing before her out of nowhere had quickly worn off, replaced with annoyance. Juuhachi-gou had stalked around to demand both Vegeta and Amara to explain why they were messing her match up, however, just as soon as she laid eyes on them, her words dissolved into a gasp of surprise before they even reached her lips.

Right away, Juuhachi-gou had realized there was something different about Vegeta and Amara. The outlining of their eyes looked eerily darker than they had the last time she saw the two of them, and they both were wearing an M tattoo on their foreheads- just like those Spopovich and Yamu characters. Atop of that, both their kis had somehow increased tremendously since the last time she saw them. There were something different about them, however. Something abnormal, and it unsettled the normally cool woman a lot.

What was going on?

After he had managed to pull himself back into the ring, and rose back up to his feet, Mr. Satan blinked in incomprehension when he saw those fighters who'd left the tournament without any explanation earlier were all standing in the middle of the ring.

"Goku-san? Where did you guys come from?" The Announcer inquired.

"Hey, since you guys bailed out earlier it's already been decided that you're disqualified," Mr. Satan said. "So..."

The World Champion trailed off in the rest of his words, his eyes growing progressively larger as he abruptly took in all the details of Vegeta and Goku. Mr. Satan blanched as recognition sunk in hard. _*The...the...Those are the guys from when I fought Cell! They're still alive!*_

"Huh?" Mr. Satan said, as he suddenly looked Gohan's way. As soon as he saw the teenager, Mr. Satan's eyes flashed with malice as he instantly recalled how he had took off with his daughter. He probably took her somewhere to have his way with his precious, innocent, beautiful Videl.

"Hey, YOU! Where the hell is Videl!" he demanded, attempting to look menacing as he started to stalk over to Gohan.

He didn't get far.

Juuhachi-gou was the first to notice both Vegeta's and Amara's cold gaze swing Mr. Satan's way. A second after Juuhachi-gou did, Goku, Gohan and Kaioushin noticed the two of new Majin warriors lifting their arms and aiming their hands on the World Champion, ki amassing around their fingertips.

"Mr. Satan! Abunai yo!" Goku screamed urgently.

"Whuh?" Mr. Satan said, briefly looking at Goku in puzzlement, before he noticed the level of light rising out the corner of his eye. Looking aslant, all the blood drained instantaneously from Mr. Satan's face when he saw the large globes of energy hovering in Vegeta's and Amara's palms right in his direction. The Announcer and the audience members let out a communal cry of consternation, the majority fearing for the champion's safety while the Z-Gang wondered if the Prince and Princess were really going to fire those energy blasts at Mr. Satan.

And they did.

A couple of things happened in a matter of seconds. Goku dashed towards Mr. Satan at full speed and successfully pushed him out the way to safety. Unfortunately, due to the original target of the ki blasts being removed...they hit the west side of the stadium instead. Goku, Gohan, and Kaioushin watched helplessly as all of the fans there were swallowed up by the intense beams, their dying screams swiftly vaporized in the ensuing explosion.

"NO!" Goku screamed. His body shook with disgust and anger, as the smoke cleared and he saw that a pile of charred rubble now took the place of bleachers that had been filled with innocent spectators who'd only come to have fun at the tournament. Beyond that, he could see that a long, deep trench now dominated a good portion of the city, doubtless resulting in the lost of even more innocent lives.

In the next instant, pandemonium broke loose. The spectators erupted in screams of terror. Some began trying to flee the scene as quickly as they could, pushing the people who were too slow out of the way, while others were too frightened to even move from their seats. In the midst of the diminishing audience, the Z-Gang was petrified in their seats, aghast at what Vegeta and Amara had just done. Yamucha and Bulma tried to calm their daughter, Bra, down who was wailing loudly.

Genuine shock and disbelief adorned Juuhachi-gou's face after what she had just witnessed. She couldn't believe Vegeta and Amara had actually done it...they actually killed those people! Once she had regained her composure, she looked toward her husband for answers.

"Vegeta, what is the meaning of this? Why did..." Juuhachi-gou broke off in her questions, when Vegeta's cold, turquoise eyes shifted towards her, and his lips curled into a vicious snarl.

"Get away from me, _osanai ningyou_!" he barked harshly, roughly pushing the blonde woman down on the ring.

As Juuhachi-gou gradually sat up, she stared up at Vegeta in stunned obfuscation for a moment._ Worthless doll_? He hasn't called her any machine-related insult in seven years.

"This is great!" Babidi cheered gleefully, watching the scene on his crystal ball. "Bringing those two over to our side really was a good idea. Now, what were their names again? Errrr...Right- Vegeta and Amara, both of you kill everyone there and take all of their energy! Battle to your heart's content!"

"No," Amara answered.

"No?" Babidi repeated in surprise.

"My main objective is defeat Kakarott!" Vegeta replied, never taking his eyes off the younger Saiyajin.

"My reason is likewise," Majin Amara said. "The only person I want to kill the most, is her!" Behind those words, the Demon Princess whirled around and stared directly at her sister-in-law, a half-crazed grin on her face. Juuhachi-gou looked alarmed. The scowl on Amara's face intensified, however, amazingly she was not directing that look at her rival. "But tell that demon of yours that he's next on my list!"

"What was that?" Dabura asked in disbelief.

"I don't believe this! They're both outright disobeying me!" Babidi said in irritation. "They act just like Raiden!"

In the next moment, Juuhachi-gou found herself being grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air effortlessly, staring down wide-eyed at her rival.

"I've been waiting for this for nine whole years, you obsolete bioconstruct!" Amara hissed. "Did you really think I forgot the humiliation you caused me all those years ago? I haven't forgotten, nor will I forgive you for it!" Looking sideways over at Vegeta, who now had his eyes fixed back on Goku, she asked, "It wouldn't offend you if I dismantle your woman, would it?"

Remarkably, Vegeta took his eyes off his rival and looked over at his sister, before looking up at his hoisted mate. For a very brief second, his expression became opaque as he stared up at the blonde woman. But when it cleared it, Vegeta glanced over at Amara dismissively, and said, "Do as you please. She means nothing to me! The only person I want right now, is Kakarott!"

Captured in Amara's hand, Juuhachi-gou gasped at Vegeta's admission. So, all those years together with him, and the two of them raising a son together, had actually meant nothing to him?

Below, Amara grinned pitilessly up at the Jinzouningen. "That's too bad for you!" On that note, she lashed out at Juuhachi-gou with her other fist, sending the other woman smashing into and through the short brick wall in front of the waiting room where competitors made their entrance, and inside the building.

"Juuhachi-gou-san! No!" Gohan cried.

Goku briefly glanced over at the spot where Juuhachi-gou had crashed through, then over to Vegeta, looking revolted by the remorseless expression he found on the Prince's face.

"Vegeta, what's wrong with you?" Goku demanded, starting to grow angry. "Don't you even care that she might be hurt?"

That only seemed to make Vegeta mad. "You keep her out of this, Kakarott! It's now time for you and I to finish what we started so long ago!"

"What?" Goku replied, his brows furrowing as he already knew what the possessed Prince had meant by his words.

"Do I need to repeat myself, you jackass!" Vegeta spat bitterly, gritted his teeth and clenching his fists. "On this day, I shall take back the dignity you stole from me when you bested me in combat!"

Inside the waiting room, Juuhachi-gou moaned softly as she pulled herself from out beneath the rubble. Her hair was disheveled and a trickle of thin blood ran down the corner of her mouth. As she rose to her feet, she winced a bit and held her jaw, as it was actually throbbing from Amara's punch. It was only on rare occasions when Juuhachi-gou could really feel _pain_. The last time she had ever felt it, was when she had fought Kaosu. Had Amara become as powerful as her? Or even more so?

Juuhachi-gou looked up when her augmented hearing picked up the sounds of footsteps approaching her. She gasped softly when she spied Amara slowly, but surely coming her way. Even from on the other side of the gap between them, Juuhachi-gou could still see the cold, arrogant grin on the dark woman. Juuhachi-gou scowled, half-furiously and half-worriedly.

What was she going to do? There was definitely no way she could defend herself from Amara in the state of power she's in. Juuhachi-gou thought Amara had already surpassed her even before she left with Vegeta and the others. As much as she hated to admit it, Amara could actually kill her.

Suddenly, Juuhachi-gou found herself becoming enraged at the fact that she was now fearing for her life once again. It shouldn't be this way! She should be making Amara fear for her life! A time ago, she could have done that. In their first fight, she'd beaten Amara just as effortlessly as she'd beaten Vegeta. But now, both the Saiyajin Prince and Princess outclassed her completely in power.

Then, there was Vegeta. Juuhachi-gou was vaguely aware that she was gritting her teeth now and that her fists were clenched at her sides, as she thought of her husband. Should she even refer to him as that now? Especially after what he'd just said just a few seconds ago?

_*Do as you please. She mean's nothing to me.*_

Juuhachi-gou growled at the back of her throat, as Vegeta's cold words repeated themselves in her mind, stinging each more painfully. Really, she didn't know why she was so taken aback by this. There had never really been any love in their relationship at all to begin with; the only thing that had kept them together all these years was lust and raising their son. She should have known things would turn out like this.

She was angry with herself for swallowing her pride and lowering herself to be Vegeta's wife these seven years, when none of that meant anything to him. And she was angry at her for...for allowing herself to actually start falling for him.

She wanted Vegeta dead for taking advantage all these years.

She wanted Amara dead for making her fear for her life.

She wanted them both DEAD!

Unknown to Juuhachi-gou, while she'd been getting angrier and angrier by the second, the imperceptible aura of darkness had returned around her and was blazing full-force...

"Things are moving along nicely, wouldn't you agree, Dabura?" Babidi remarked, sounding amusement. It had entertained him to no end to see his new Majin soldiers kill all those spectators. It had been deliciously evil of Vegeta and Amara. It had even amused him, when he saw Amara punch Vegeta's woman into that building.

"Yes, master," Dabura answered, his sharp teeth flashed in a wicked grin. "It is as I've told you, Babidi-sama. With the help of these two, your goal of freeing Majin Buu will be realized before you know it."

_*And as soon as that happens, your usefulness to me will have run out like with Spopovich and Yamu,* _Babidi thought connivingly. But aloud he said, "You are so right!"

As the two continued to watch the events unfold on Babidi's crystal ball, the two suddenly noticed Amara walking off somewhere.

"I wonder where she's heading to?" Dabura asked curiously, frowning at her as he recalled her threat to him. The idea of that woman thinking she was a match for him now that she was under Babidi's spell was highly amusing to him really. Well, if she really was that stupid, he was positive Babidi wouldn't care if he got rid of her- after she finished playing her part in freeing Buu, of course.

"I think she's going to finish off that other woman," Babidi answered, chuckling sinisterly. "And when she's done with her, we'll have even more energy for Majin Buu."

Interestingly, just as soon as he said that, the image on his crystal ball had shifted. It now showed him an image of the woman Majin Amara had struck, glowering furiously at something. But what what he found most intriguing about her, was the unmistakeable black nimbus encompassing her. The mage grinned.

"Dabura, she too has a heart of evil!" Babidi exclaimed.

"You're right, Babidi-sama," Dabura agreed. He smirked balefully down at the crystal ball. "Yes. I think we may have just found yet another recruit to help in releasing Majin Buu!"

Abreast him, Babidi cackled happily at yet another interesting development.

Back at the tournament, Juuhachi-gou had been so busy half-engrossed in her powerless anger over the situation she was in and half-waiting for Amara's arrival, that she hadn't been expecting the sharp pain that suddenly surged into existence in her head. A soft cry tore from her lips, as the pain started to increase; she grabbed the side of her head in some vain attempt to make the uncomfortable feeling go away, but it only grew sharper and more refined.

What was happening to her?

_*Don't resist!*_

Even while in pain, Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened when she heard the unfamiliar voice in her head. *_W-who are you? And what are you doing in my head?*_

There was a dark chuckle, and then a reply. *_I am Madoshi Babidi, and I've come to help.*_

_*You came to help me?* _Juuhachi-gou sent back, sounding confused and distrustful. _*Forget it! I don't want your help, now get out of my head!"_

"_But my dear, you have no choice! Without my help, Amara will kill you! Do you want that? Do you really want to die so miserably? Don't you want revenge against both her and Vegeta?"_

Silence ensued after Babidi's words. Then..."_what should I do?"_

_"Just agree to become my Majin warrior, and you'll have the power to never let anyone hurt you again!"_

_"Then I accept."_

On that note, the pain in Juuhachi-gou's head took on a whole new intensity...

Everyone in the stadium had almost immediately become aware that someone was terribly wrong. It had been brought to their attention when they heard a loud, feminine shriek come from the waiting room where Juuhachi-gou had been tossed into, accompanied by a flash of brilliant, blue light that slipped through the openings of the main entrance and blinded everyone momentarily.

When the light had died down and everybody was able to see again, everyone immediately looked over towards the building where the anomaly had occurred. Even Vegeta's eyes tracked over to the waiting room, the very faintest trace of curiosity flickering in his emotionless, bright blue-green eyes. In the thick quietness that now hung over the Tenkaichi Budokai, everyone could hear the sound of footsteps coming towards them from the waiting room.

Stopping in front of the ring steps, Amara grinned horribly as she stared at the entryway of the waiting room. She had just been on her way to continue punishing Juuhachi-gou for what she did to her so long ago, before she heard that scream and that weird flash of light. Well, she didn't know exactly what Juuhachi-gou called herself doing, but it wouldn't work. Her power far eclipsed Juuhachi-gou's now! Though, very grudgingly, the tainted Saiyajin Princess admired Juuhachi-gou for coming out and facing her death like a true warrior.

In the next moment, Juuhachi-gou herself stepped out of the building. Goku, Gohan, Kaioushin, the Announcer, Mr. Satan, and the Z-Gang in the audience gasped and gaped in consternation. Amara's eyes widened. And something that could have been a very close cousin to surprise flashed imperceptibly across Vegeta's face when he saw his wife.

Standing before them all was Juuhachi-gou…now proudly wearing the emblem of the Majin on her forehead, sparks of lightning dancing around her. These past few years, those who knew Juuhachi-gou had come to see a warm glow in her eyes, which disassociated herself from person she had been while in Dr. Gero's servitude. But now, that glow had completely faded, replaced by a coldness that was blazing at the same time, visibly trembling with anger.

"No! Not her, too!" Kaioushin wailed in despair, blanching at the sight of Babidi's new Majin warrior. Beside him, Gohan shook his head in silent disbelief.

"Oh, no, Juuhachi-gou-san..." Goku murmured, suddenly given a reminder of the time he'd dreamt of Juuhachi-gou and her brother killing off his family friends while he'd been bedridden with a heart disease.

Near the hero, Mr. Satan was literally as white as a sheet, as he gawped in openmouthed terror at Juuhachi-gou. The blonde woman had already scared him to begin with, however, she had somehow managed to look even more fear-provoking to him. Especially those eyes of hers…they looked so…cold and subhuman, though currently they were blazing with intense rage as she alternated looks towards golden-haired man and the golden-haired woman, her gaze lingering longer on the former. But had she even been human to begin with before whatever change had come over?

"What is this...?" Amara demanded, glaring her rival.

The dark Saiyajin woman found herself being sharply cut off when she suddenly felt an unforgiving knee plunging into her stomach, knocking the breath out of her and causing her to spit out blood. Beside her, holding her up in place with her knee, Juuhachi-gou sneered malevolently at her rival out the corner of her eye.

Everyone stared. No one had even seen Juuhachi-gou move just then. One second, she'd been standing in the main entrance, and then the next, she was standing abreast to Amara, slamming her knee into the other woman's stomach. And if she could make Amara hurt in her powered-up state, one could only imagine that she was a whole lot stronger as she was faster than before.

After a long pause, Juuhachi-gou had at last removed her knee from Majin Amara's stomach, allowing the woman to finally fall on the ground. Well, it looked that way at first. Before the Saiyajin Princess could even hit the ground, the blonde Jinzouningen had caught her by the chin with her right index finger and easily lifted her back up to her feet. Amara snarled wrathfully as Juuhachi-gou stared at her, though he eyes were cold, Juuhachi-gou's lips were warped in a small, sadistic smile.

"Now, it's my turn!" Majinzou Juuhachi-gou said. As fast as she had moved towards Majin Amara a few seconds ago, she lashed out at the other woman with her left hand, catching her in the face with a vicious, open palm strike. Amara howled in anger more than pain, as she was sent sailing through the air, making an unintentional beeline towards the bleachers where Yamucha, Bulma, and the others were sitting at.

"Everyone, move!" Yamucha immediately shouted, instinctively wrapping an arm around his wife (who held their daughter) and around Chichi, then took the air for safety. While Puar was able to do the same, poor Muten Roshi, Gyuu Mao and Oolong could only just scramble away in different directions to safety on the bleachers.

They all were able to move just in time before Amara smashed into the seats they'd been occupying seconds ago. Below, standing outside the ring, Juuhachi-gou allowed a triumphant smile to curl her lips, while she almost absently brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

Juuhachi-gou stared down at herself in astonishment. Now this was the power! She could feel it flowing heavily in her veins, making her nerves tingle all over with electricity. It was amazing to her how that Babidi character's magic had managed to boost her power to a level she never thought was in the range of possibility for her. She felt completely unchained. Now she could pay back both Amara and Vegeta! Speaking of him...

Juuhachi-gou turned her burning gaze onto Vegeta, who was watching her. Vegeta growled at his Majin-made woman, glaring fiercely at her as he'd been forced to remember their fight again on the highway when she had kneed his sister earlier and hit her with an open palm strike.

With a snarl, Vegeta savagely knocked the humiliating memory away and completely ignored her, immediately turning his cold gaze back onto Goku, who he found looking at him and his wife in stunned astonishment. The Demon Prince snarled balefully, his muscular body starting to become wound tight with fury. Every since that momentous day, when they had met on the battlefield for the first time and Goku had come out the victor, his pride been stung by humiliation one moment after another. After being defeated by a lowborn, the next thing to sting his self-importance was when Goku had killed Furiiza. It should've been him that killed the murderer of their home and their people, and the same bastard who'd kept in bondage since he was a child. It should've been him who obtained the legendary Super Sayajin powers of their people! It had been his birthright to do so!

Well, no more! He would make Goku pay for each and every humiliating moment he's made him suffered.

"Hey, you worthless dog! Your focus should be over here on me!" Vegeta barked, firing a ki blast at Goku's feet to get his attention. The younger Saiyajin yelped and jumped back just in time, though the blast did graze the edges of both his boots. Vegeta grinned callously at his rival."Now that I have your attention, Kakarott, it's time for you and I to settle an old score!"

"Vegeta-san, you've got to stop this right now!" Gohan said, starting forward in an attempt to stop anymore disaster from happening.

Vegeta glared spitefully at the half-Saiyajin teenager, as he dared try to approach him. "You stay of this, you half-case!" the Prince thundered. With a wave of his hand, he fired an invisible wave of ki that struck Gohan and sent fly into the barricade wall. Gohan slid off with a groan.

"Gohan!" Goku called, looking concerned. "Vegeta, this has gone on long enough. Stop it right now!" Goku told him in a warning tone.

Vegeta heard the note in his voice and bristled briefly, before he broke out in another crazed grin.

"You want me to stop, then force me to!" He then casually flung a ki blast at the people who were still trying to flee, taking more lives.

Goku stared at Vegeta in horror. Goku grimaced at the Prince, his own temper beginning to flare. First Vegeta and Amara had killed those people in cold blood, and then Vegeta had attempted to harm his son. There was only so much of this that he could take...

Meanwhile, Kaioushin watched on helplessly. This was not what he'd envisioned happening when he, Kibito, and Kosumo had first came to Earth. He'd had hopes that Goku and his friends would be able to offer him some assistance with Majin Buu, after hearing of all their heroic endeavors on Earth. But he was starting to think that maybe it had been a bad idea for him to have gotten them involved with this. They were really only making things worse. With Vegeta, Amara and now Juuhachi-gou under his control, Babidi could gather up all the needed energy to free Majin Buu in no time!

_*No, even if I haven't alerted them of Babidi and Majin Buu, they would've learned of it sooner or later,*_ a stubborn voice told him.

_*But what can I do?"_ he answered. "_If I don't do something soon, this planet is doomed!*_

Momentarily, everyone's attention, except for Vegeta's was brought to the brilliant gold light that erupted from out of the large hole where Amara had crashed at, accompanied by an angry feminine wail. In the next instant, a furious Saiyajin Princess arose from out beneath the bleachers and touched down a few feet away from Juuhachi-gou. The blonde woman wore an air of disinterest around her, as she grinned devilishly at her.

"Did you enjoy your nap?" she taunted.

Amara growled furiously, as she could hear the condescension in Juuhachi-gou's voice.

"Bah! You only got a lucky punch that's all! You want be so lucky again!" While Amara said that, she had lifted her arm and started building up her ki.

Juuhachi-gou grinned, completely unconcerned.

The Saiyajin Princess was about to fire, when an unwanted voice suddenly intruded on the scene.

"Now this is what I like to see, destruction!" Babidi enthused, his grating laughter ringing echoingly over the throughout the damaged arena.

"Who in the world is that?" Bulma wondered while still floating in midair in Yamucha's arms with Chichi and Bra, shivering from disgust the sound of the obnoxious voice.

"Babidi, what do you want?" Goku snapped, his normally cheerful voice thick with anger. "Haven't you caused enough trouble as it is?"

Babidi chuckled at the angered Saiyajin through his crystal ball. "My, my, someone certainly seems to be in a bad mood. But I'm under the impression that you four have a dispute that you have to settle. So, I'm offering this: agree to fight Vegeta, and I'll send you two to another location and handle your business there. What do you say?"

For a moment, silence filled the air once again as Goku gave Babidi's offer due consideration.

"No deal!" Goku answered at last.

"What!" Vegeta growled in disbelief and anger.

"You heard me!" Goku said firmly. "I won't fight you! If you weren't too blinded by your own arrogance, then you would see he's just trying to get us to fight just so he unleash Majin Buu into the world!"

"Ahondara! I care nothing for this Majin Buu!" Vegeta roared, looking incensed. "You're just trying to get an excuse to back out of facing me, just like you always do! But not this time, I won't allow it!" Vegeta howled, his voice lashing out over everyone like a whip. Golden fire jumped to life around his body again, as his Super Saiyajin aura flared wildly around him, splintering the ring even more than it already was.

After a moment, Vegeta got himself under control and powered down, flashing his teeth over towards Goku in a fiendish grin.

"I _know _what it'll take to get you accept my challenge," Vegeta said, chuckling.

"What do you mean?" Goku asked, eying the warrior suspiciously.

Vegeta didn't answer him with words. Instead, without even looking, he stretched his arm out sideways…aiming his hand in the direction Yamucha, Bulma, their daughter, and Goku's wife were in. The dead Saiyajin gasped as the implication of what Vegeta was about to do hit him like a ton of bricks. Chichi, Yamucha, and Bulma became petrified with fear, Bra burst in tears again, when they saw Vegeta's hand aimed at them. Both Bulma and Yamucha quickly tried to calm her down, and Yamucha glowered death down at Vegeta for frightening his daughter.

"You wouldn't dare?" Goku growled warningly.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Vegeta asked, without so many words reminding Goku of how he had just killed all those spectators along with Amara.

Goku's heart seized when he saw the swell of ki in Vegeta's hand.

"Vegeta, please don't do this," Goku pleaded.

Vegeta shot Goku a cold, narrow look. "I won't, if you agree to fight me! Otherwise, you can kiss your wife and your little friends goodbye!"

That was the final straw; With a cry, Goku transformed.

"All right, Vegeta...I'll fight you, but tell your new _master_ it'll be in a different location away from all of these people," Goku said, his voice not lacking in disdain.

Babidi had heard. Then came the cry, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Everyone in the ring or close to the ring, except for Mr. Satan and the Announcer, were transported away, leaving behind a small group of bewildered and appalled people in the ruined stadium.

In the middle of a rocky desert, everyone reappeared, still standing on the floor of Stage Three. Well, almost everyone appeared...

"Juuhachi-gou-san! Amara-san! They're not here!" Gohan, who was the first to notice, alerted everyone.

"Babidi must have transported them to a different location to fight in," Kaioushin speculated, frowning.

"You're right!" Gohan realized, looking over toward some cliffs sitting a short distance away. "I can sense Amara's ki quite clearly over in that direction."

Goku, who had been watching his son and Kaioushin sidelong after hearing that neither Amara nor Juuhachi-gou were there, shifted his eyes onto Vegeta. He frowned derisively at his fellow Saiyajin, his right fist clenched tight. He really didn't want to do this. Normally, he would have been all for having another fight with the Saiyajin Prince again- a friendly one, of course; he really had looked forward to the match they were originally supposed to had back at the tournament. But this was definitely not the way he wanted it, especially when fighting him could result in the release of Majin Buu back into the world.

_*But I have little choice. Vegeta and I must fight," _Goku reminded himself. _*Plus, he'll never really let things go on until we do." _

"Otousan..." Gohan said, looking torn.

The teenager was another one who didn't want to see this happen. He was still in shock that it was happening at all. Gohan had been so sure that Vegeta had finally changed, and Amara as well. But to think Vegeta would go so far as to threaten the lives of Gohan's mother and people who were supposed to be all their friends just to get his father to fight...

Suddenly, everyone looked when the hatch door slid open invitingly.

Looking resolute, Kaioushin walked towards the entrance, thought stopped to turn back to Gohan.

"Gohan-san, it's all right," he said. "Let your father and Vegeta fight. Meanwhile, you and I will continue on ahead to stop Babidi and Dabura."

"But..." Gohan started.

"He's right, Gohan," Goku told his son. "While Vegeta and I are fighting, it's up to you two to make sure Babidi doesn't free Majin Buu. And here, take this." Reaching down inside his sash, Goku pulled out a small sack. "Here's a senzu bean, I still have three more. Take this one, I'm sure you used up a lot of energy."

Gohan gratefully accepted the magic bean and ate it. At once, his strength was instantly replenished.

"Get angry, Gohan," Goku advised. "Remember how you got angry when you fought Cell and brought forth all of your strength? If you do that again, you don't have to worry about anything. No one can beat you."

Gohan still looked like he wanted to argue, but then realized it was futile. "Fine. I just hate that this had to happen on your one day back on Earth. I really wanted to face you back at the tournament."

Goku smiled.

"This is something that is beyond your comprehension, Gohan," Vegeta said, speaking for the first time they arrived. "After all, you know nothing of the Saiyajin's pride."

Moments later, both Kaioushin and Gohan were heading back inside the ship through the entrance, the door sliding back in place to seal off anyone who weren't permitted inside. Goku and Vegeta were left alone, neither taking their eyes off each other.

"I'm not gonna be damaged by you so it can become energy for Buu," Goku said. "So I'm gonna end this quickly, at full power!"

Vegeta smirked. "I look forward to seeing the fruits of all your training in the afterlife."

As if on cue, Goku transformed into a Super Saiyajin Two. The Demon Prince's smirk widened into a grin.

"It's just like I thought. Your power is much greater than Gohan's was back then," he observed. "But you're not the only one!"

Following those words, Vegeta went past Super Saiyajin as well.

Goku's expression turned even graver. "On second thought...this might actually take a lot longer than I thought."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	28. Settling Old Grudges

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Settling Old Grudges**

* * *

As if a gong that only they could hear had gone off, Majin Vegeta and Goku screamed their war cries and simultaneously lunged across the rocky terrain at each other, meeting midway in an intense exchange of punches and kicks. The battle immediately increased in ferocity, their auras flashing and burning around them. Still trading blows, the two Saiyajin soon took their fight to the air. Their auras seemed to fuse together while they did so, encasing the two Saiyajin into one large halo of golden flames tinged with crepitating lightning.

Sadistic delight swelled up inside the Majin warrior when he had finally slipped through Goku's defenses and buried his fist ferociously into his stomach, causing his entire diaphragm to seize up as the air was knocked from his lungs. Vegeta was relentless as he then unleashed a full onslaught of vicious punches to his rival's abdomen, his aura roaring loudly around him with each blow that he made home, all the while grinning mercilessly as he could see the pain on his rival's face; it was an expression he'd only seen the younger Saiyajin wear in his dreams. He kept up his brutal assault up by burying his knee harshly in the back Goku's neck and then his face, and then he went back to punching him repeatedly in the gut again.

"Fool, is there something wrong?" Vegeta taunted nastily, never losing his violent tempo as continued in his attempt to cave in Goku's stomach. "What happened to that stupid grin of yours, huh? Aren't you at least going to fight back?-No? Well, then I'll try to keep myself amused while I pound you a bloody pulp!"

Like he always did whenever he said he was going to something, Vegeta tried to back up his words as he swung a savage roundhouse kick at Goku's head...only to have the younger warrior block him off with his arm. Vegeta found himself further surprised by the abrupt punch the other Saiyajin had swiftly smashed in his face, so full of fury had the blow been that it left the possessed warrior's whole body momentarily numb, which was long enough for Goku to begin to deliver some of the same treatment the prince had been giving him only seconds ago, dealing him a harsh succession of punches to the face that knocked his head sharply to the right and to the left. With a ferocious cry, he grabbed Vegeta's face and slammed it into each of his knees, follow up with a clasped punch that sent his rival colliding into the side of a precipice where he remained stuck in a Vegeta-shaped hole.

Wearing an expression that was unlike Son Goku's normally goofy and affable look, but fierce and relentless like that of his Saiyajin alter-ego, Kakarott, the younger Saiyajin flew towards Vegeta to punish him some more. However, upon arrival, Majin Vegeta had revived and let out a defiant scream, his aura flaring and extending outwardly around him, forcing Goku to halt himself just a hairsbreadth away from the Prince as his intense power burned away the cliff that he was just stuck in a brief moment ago, and at the same time freeing himself.

For a moment, neither Saiyajin said or did anything. They both panted as they just stared each other down, their teeth gritted, while at the same time moving irresistibly closer towards one another.

"Now, that was more like it," Majin Vegeta said after a lengthy pause, sounding pleased, in a very distant, distant way at the intense fierceness the typically good-natured Saiyajin had just displayed against him. But just the mere thought of the disgustingly agreeable way the other Saiyajin usually acted sent Majin Vegeta in another fit of murderous rage, and he charged at the junior warrior once again.

As their barbaric dance was starting up again, another intensified a good distance away from their battlefield.

"HAAAA!" Amara, radiating with the power of a true Beyond Super Saiyajin, shouted as she came down on Juuhachi-gou in an arc, repeatedly kicking her in the back; With a final powerful kick, she sent Juuhachi-gou smashed into the ground at breakneck speed. With a coldly arrogant look on her face, she fired a stream of ki bolts down below where her rival impacted, and the point of attack exploded.

Lowering her hand, she smiled arrogantly briefly before that look of icy fury returned to her features. She descended back onto the ground, glowering angrily into the rising smoke before her.

"Come on out, you metallic wench. I know you're still alive!"

Suddenly, she got her response in the form of something _very quick _darting out of the ebbing smoke and then someone's head smashed hard against her face. As the princess rocked backwards, Juuhachi-gou reappeared over her, the possessed blonde woman topped it off with by driving her elbow into Amara's face, knocking her back onto the earth to dig a deep though half a mile trench with her own body. Grinning wickedly, Juuhachi-gou sprung after her foe.

* * *

The trio of Koji, Hoshi, and Goten had stopped in midair at the same time all of a sudden. Their young faces were sat in identical masks of confusion as they gazed out into the distance- in the direction Videl had told them all where their parents and the other Z-Senshi were.

"Hey, do you guys feel that?" Koji asked the others. "It feels like my Papa's doing some major time fighting over there!"

"And so is my Papa!" Goten added.

"It feel like Mama's fighting, too!" Hoshi answered.

There was a short pause amongst the small group of half-Saiyajin, as the three youngsters mulled over what their parents could be out there fighting that would make them all throw around so much energy. Then a flash bulb switched on in Goten's head as a thought came to him.

"Hey, do you think they're out there fighting that Majin Buu guy Videl told us about?" he ask.

"They probably are!" Koji answered. Though, he sounded disappointed. "Aw, man! Why did they have to start fighting before we got there?"

"No, no, no, no!" Goten whined, shaking his head as if he was on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum, and knowing Goten, his best friends wouldn't be surprised as if he did. "I want to fight the Buu monster before they destroy it!"

"Well, I do, too!" Hoshi said. "But if we just float here all day, we're going to miss it! Now let's go already!" On that line, Hoshi took off.

"Hey, wait for us!" Koji and Goten yelled after her before flying off as well.

* * *

Babidi couldn't believe what he was watching, as he and Dabura had been observing the battles thus far between Majin Vegeta and Goku and Majin Amara and Majinzou Juuhachi-gou on his crystal ball; just so he wouldn't miss any of the action, he'd made it so that the screen on his crystal ball was split in half, simultaneously showing him what was happening between the two men and the two women. He thought it was simply delightful the way the four were pummelling each other in the most uncivilized of fashions possible; he had never imagined that upon coming to Earth to search for Majin Buu that he would come across warriors such as the ones he was watching now. Due to the levels of intensity they were each fighting on, that his hope of resurrecting Majin Buu before night had fallen on the planet again was finally becoming a good possibility.

Even now while his gaze was transfixed on his crystal ball, he could hear the needle on the meter that was used for measuring Majin Buu's power reacting wildly to the energy his three latest Majin warriors and that other man with the strange hair were transmitting to his father's sleeping creation. They were making such excellent progress in accumulating the necessary energy for Majin Buu's revival. Once he accomplished that, he would repay them for their services like he planned to do for Dabura...ordering Majin Buu to kill them quickly, yet horribly.

Babidi's thoughts then turned to Kaioushin, as he was quite aware that the man who murdered his father was inside the ship again, along with that boy Dabura had fought with earlier, and also knew that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the fights going on outside his space vessel for much longer, because their was about to be one inside it. Even now he could hear a commotion going on in the upper Stages of the ship, and from the sound of it, the Majin grunts he'd sent to go greet Kaioushin and his young cohort weren't fairing too well. Dabura had heard the noise as well and grinned wickedly.

"Kaioushin and that boy aren't wasting any time getting here," he commented. He couldn't wait, either! He still had unresolved issues with that young boy to take care of.

While the demon was envisioning himself slaughtering Gohan in the most sadistic manner he could think of, Babidi had waved a scrawny hand over his crystal ball, changing the image. The lavender orb now showed him a picture of his mortal enemy and Gohan, both were wearing looks of determination on their faces as they glided down the tunnel towards the main chamber of the ship where Babidi himself was, along with Dabura, and a dormant Majin Buu. The Madoshi and the King of the Deam Realm watched the two for a few more seconds, before Babidi looked up at Dabura and grinned at him in cold glee.

"Let's prepare ourselves for our guests' arrival, shall we?"

A short while ago, Gohan and Kaioushin had re-entered Babidi's spaceship, touching back down in the middle of Stage Four again. However, before they could even attempt to get to the Final Stage of the ship and put a stop to Babidi and Dabura, the hatch to weird looking elevator on the far side of the room slid open, and a multitude of ailens garbed in the same uniform as Pui Pui had donned came springing into the room. Before either Kaioushin and Gohan had knew it, a barricade of lowly Majin soldiers stood before them.

Normally the two would've been rather annoyed than discouraged by Babidi's numerous soldiers standing in front of them, seeing as how they had pressing matters that concerned the very well-being of Earth down below in the Final Stage. But the two were actually more mildly bewildered than either annoyed or discouraged as they immediately noticed that in spite being seriously outnumbered right now, their enemies actually seemed rather very frightened at having to face the two of them. In fact, all of the grunts were shaking so badly, they made a unintentional rhythmic noise.

"Hm. Well, they certainly don't seem very brave, do they?" Kaioushin remarked, sounding more as if he'd just been commenting about the floor.

"They sure don't," Gohan agreed. He unconsciously mimicked his father as he scratched his head in a mildly puzzled fashion while he regarded his foes. It was as clear as day that those guys were too afraid to fight against him and Kaioushin, and personally, he didn't really want to fight them. But something made him doubt that they would actually listen if he tried to reason to them that they would get hurt if they tried to fight him and Kaioushin. Even in spite of how afraid they seemed.

Turning toward Kaioushin, he asked, "So, what should we do with them?"

Kaioushin briefly considered the question. "Well, we have no choice but to take them out, and quickly. Because the longer we stand here, the more energy your father, Vegeta, and those two women keep feeding to Majin Buu, and we just can't let him be freed."

"Right!" Gohan said determinedly, just the reminder of the horrible prospect of Majin Buu being released back into the universe was more than enough to strengthen his resolve.

Finally, one of the soldiers found a speck of courage inside himself, latched onto it, and let out a battle cry as he charged at his master's enemies. That in turn made his compatriots courageous and they lunged into battle along with him, yelling out their own war whoops. Kaioushin watched in mild befuddlement when the Majin grunts suddenly sprung into the air simultaneously and came barrelling down atop of Gohan, burying him in a mountain of bodies. Though, a moment later, the god could hear and feel both Gohan's voice and ki rise sharply underneath the pile of grunts, then, in the next instant, a white firestorm erupted amidst the grunts and sent them scattering in every direction. They all slammed into the walls, with some instantly slumping onto the floor in unconsciousness, while the others fell into a stage of semi-unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Kaioushin was gazing at Gohan in awe as the young stood in the center of a column of white flames, resembling the fierce Saiyajin warrior that only turned into whenever someone angered him enough. Then, Gohan powered down and once again looked like that self-assured half-Saiyajin Kaioushin had first seen back at the tournament.

"That wasn't much of a blockade, was it?" Gohan commented, laughing slightly.

Right after he said that, a noise of groaning gears filled the room once more as the hatch on the floor, that sealed off the connecting tunnel that led to the next stage slid open, revealing yet another semi-dark tunnel. Gohan and Kaioushin were instantly on guard.

"I can assure you that our next and final task won't be all that easy," Kaioushin said grimly. "Gohan, I don't have to remind you that this will be dangerous."

"Don't worry, I'm ready for both Dabura and Babidi!" Gohan said determinedly.

On that note, the two then walked over to the tunnel and, one after another, jumped inside it resolutely. They didn't even hear as the hatch above them soundlessly slid back close. After a few moments of gliding down the tunnel, a large hole had opened up beneath them and the two fell into it, alighting down gracefully at the same time in the center of the Final Stage...where they knew Babidi and Dabura were waiting for them at.

At least, they thought the mage and his demon follower would be waiting for them when they first arrived into the room. But to their surprise, the room they had just entered seemed completely devoid of life- no, wait a minute! It wasn't completely lacking any signs of life as they'd first thought. In the center of the dark room, the two could make out a large, purplish ball resting atop of a dais, an odd-looking meter instrument resting on its own pedestal beside it. The strange thing made an eerie hum inside the dark chamber as it pulsed with its own lights continuously. While Kaioushin paled upon seeing this, Gohan stared at it with dawning realization.

"Is that him, Kaioushin?" Gohan asked after a long moment, grimacing slightly. "Is that...Majin Buu?"

"Y-yes. That's him all right," Kaioushin answered with a slight stammer in his voice. He'd tried to fight down the shiver that being in the mere presence of the egg that contained the destroyer of his people had triggered, but it had been a failing battle. After all, it was only understandable face to face with the same horrible monster (even if he was still incarcerated) that had been haunting his dreams since that atrocious day he and his creator had came to his home world and killed all the other Kaiuoshin except for him.

However, what was really making him nervous was the ominous way the needle on that meter seemed to get closer and closer towards the M in the center. He knew that Goku was a powerful fighter, and at that Vegeta, Amara and Juuhachi-gou had received exponential power increases after being placed under Babidi's soul enslaving curse, but at the rate the needle was moving, he feared Majin Buu's resurrection would be very close at hand. Just the thought of it made his face twist in cold determination; he couldn't allow Majin Buu to be set free again, he just had to stop this somehow!

Unfortunately, before he could even begin to come up with a solution on just how to handle that, his musings were suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone clapping in mock applause. He and Gohan swiftly snapped their gazes back onto Majin Buu's sphere as that was where the sound was originating from. For a horrible split second, the two had thought that the sound was actually a signal to let everyone know that egg was about to crack open and Majin Buu would be free once more. Then they realized that it wasn't Majin Buu at all when Babidi and Dabura had suddenly stepped out from behind Majin Buu's ball, both grinning at their guests malevolently while Babidi was still clapping. The half-Saiyajin and the god immediately drew themselves in fighting stances.

"Well, well," Babidi said, "congratulations you two, you actually made it to the Final Stage. Or maybe I should refer to this room as your grave? Because after all, you two will not be leaving this room alive!" His cold, green eyes narrowed balefully on Kaioushin deliberately. "Especially not you, Kaioushin." The mage cackled maliciously at his archenemy, who glared defiantly back at him. "How sad it is for you, Kaioushin. All those days of hard work trying to stop me from resurrecting the magnificent Majin Buu into the universe has all been for nothing! Because thanks to those four friends of yours, Buu will be free in no time!"

"That's where you're wrong, Babidi!" Kaioushin spat out crossly. "Not only am I and Gohan going to stop you from free Majin Buu, I am going to kill you just like I did your father!" Kaioushin vowed, fists clenching tightly at his side, teeth bared in fury.

Babidi glowered at the god in pure abhorrence. "Think again, you rat! The only reason you were able to kill my father was because you caught him off guard," the mage snarled coldly angrily. "You see, I've learned quite well from all of my father's shortcomings. For instance, like keeping powerful people in my company," as he said that last comment, he briefly, yet meaningfully jerked his head in Dabura's direction. "And that is why I shall not make the same mistakes that he made in his lifetime. You will not catch me off guard like you did him, because I've completely guarded myself. You're not going to win this time."

Kaioushin growled furiously, mostly because he'd just realized that Babidi was completely right. He really was guarded on all sides! He wouldn't be able to make a move on the warlock without him anticipating it first. And not to mention that there was also Dabura to worry about. What was going to do?

"Don't worry, Babidi-sama," Dabura finally spoke up, grinning devilishly. "Even if Kaioushin does get close enough to you, I'd strike him down before he could even make his first move." His wicked gaze then shifted over to Gohan, who immediately tensed in place. "But first, I want to take another shot at that brat. We still have to finish our fight!"

Like any Saiyajin would when being threatened, Gohan glowered fiercely back at Dabura. It annoyed him that the demon warrior was acting as if he was someone that he could just walk over. Well, he'd show him! He lowered himself into his accustomed fighting stance, but Dabura just laughed.

"Oh, don't even bother," the demon sneered nastily. "You're only just prolonging your inevitable death, boy!"

"We'll see!" Gohan said defiantly. "In case you've forgotten, you haven't beaten me yet, Dabura!"

At that comment, Dabura leered malignantly at the half-Saiyajin, his eyes glittering with feral evil. "Well, I'll rectify that right now!"

"Hold on, Dabura!" Babidi ordered, just as the demonic warrior was about to lunge at Gohan to restart their fight. As the demon monarch blinked down at him in puzzlement, Babidi added, "I've got a better idea. How about I change the scenery around for your battle with the boy? That way, you can have a lot more room to massacre him in and give his energy to Majin Buu at the same time!"

As always, Dabura nodded agreeably with his master's idea. "I'd like that a lot, Babidi-sama."

"Good." Right afterwards, Babidi raised both his hands into the air and screamed, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Gohan and Kaioushin braced themselves as the room they were standing in started to shift and spin and lurch wildly around them. Shortly, things slowed to a halt, and the two gasped in unison when they found themselves standing back outside Babidi's spaceship again, along with Dabura and warlock himself. The only difference was that the ball holding Majin Buu sat behind the evildoers on its platform, acting as a silent spectator for what was about to take place. And in the far distant background the four could make out faint echoes of the fierce battles going on in the other side of the wasteland.

Babidi then cackled nastily at his enemies. "Well, let's begin, shall we?"

* * *

A pained cry tore through Goku's bloodied lips, ringing loudly through the air as he was sent smashing into a hillside. While he had been in the process of trying to recover from his harsh landing, his opponent touched down a few feet beside him.

Vegeta crossed his arms and grinned down at his rival, taking malign delight in watching the hero struggle desperately to rise back up to his feet. However, the grin quickly vanished from his face when Goku managed to heave himself back up to his hands and knees, and was replaced by a savage snarl as cold fury instantly rose up inside him.

"I think not!" he barked. With a snarling battle cry, he swiftly rushed over and punted the younger Saiyajin cruelly in the ribs, nearly fracturing them and extracting another wail of pain from Goku. The younger man went sprawling several yards across earth before his trajectory ended near a group of boulders.

In the meantime, on another battleground, Amara raised her right index finger. Yellow-gold ki appeared around her finger in the form of a ring, spinning twice before she reabsorbed the energy back into her finger.

"SOLAR STRIKE!" Amara shouted, stabbing her finger downward to fire an enormous energy blast.

A slightly dishevelled looking Juuhachi-gou swung her gaze heavenward, maintaining her impassive expression even as she watched the intense wall of ki coming straight down toward her. She didn't even try to move out of path of the swiftly approaching energy beam like most sane people would have; in fact, before the beam had reached her and slammed down atop of her in a vicious deluge, one could've seen her lips quirking into a nasty smile. The attack exploded around her, swallowing her up completely and momentarily wiping her out of anyone's view- including her attacker.

Smirking, Amara touched down a hairsbreadth away from the afterimage the explosion caused by her attack had left behind. Instead of looking victorious like most would have after making a direct hit on their enemy, Amara dropped back into a fighting stance, knowing that Juuhachi-gou was still alive. After all, she hadn't put _that _much power behind her last attack as that had been to serve the purpose of hurting the Jinzouningen rather than actually killing her. No, the Demon Princess was far from finished with rival and fully planned to play with her some more before finally destroying the cyborg. She's waited too long for this fight to ended it too quickly.

So she wasn't surprised in the least when Juuhachi-gou reappeared after the smoke had vanished entirely, still very much alived and unscathed. Well, partially unscathed. Although the princess's attack hadn't done any damage to her skin, it had done some damage to the blonde woman's clothes; her hair was now a near tangled mess, rips and torns covered her shirt and pants here and there. Amara cackled scornfully at her rival.

"My, my. You don't look all that pretty, now," she sneered.

"Amara, even like this I'll still look ten times better than you," Juuhachi-gou retorted.

Amara bristled at the other woman's insult, and with a war cry, she charged at the cyborg again, lashing out with a lightning fast knee strike that Juuhachi-gou easily blocked off with her forearm. Amara pressed on in the offensive, punching and kicking violently, driving her opponent backwards, while Juuhachi-gou's hands moved as fast as the Oujo struck out to block her each time; the princess's annoyance over the fact that she couldn't get a hit in on her rival made her intensity increase and pour all of herself into her blows.

When this had gone one for a few more minutes, and Amara still hadn't gotten another hit in, inspiration struck the princess all of a sudden. Juuhachi-gou was a bit bewildered when the Saiyajin Princess suddenly backed away from her, laughing wickedly.

"You know, robot, after living on this planet for seven years, I've learned all kinds of new tricks," she crowed. "So, allow me to show you one of them right now!" As Amara said that, she crossed her hands over her face. Something close to geninue surprise registered across Juuhachi-gou's countenance as something about that gesture was familiar to the blonde Jinzouningen, something that sent a trill of alarm through her. Then, in the next instant, Amara screamed something that was familiarly haunting to Juuhachi-gou...

"TAIYOUKEN!"

The cyborged Majin let out a small cry as the whole world around her abruptly turned a blinding blue-white. The radiance was so eye-searing that even her sophisticated eyes couldn't withstand it, so she covered her face with her arm. All the while, a wave of deja-vu rolled over her as she now clearly remembered why what the Oujo had just done was so familiar to her...it was because Semi-Perfect Cell had done the same trick...right before he swallowed her whole through the tip of his tail...

And just like Cell had, Amara immediately pounced on the blonde cyborg while she was distracted. Dematerializing, then rematerializing behind Juuhachi-gou, she viciously delivered a snap kick to her stomach, causing her double over in midair. Grinning insanely, the Oujo clasped her hands together and drove them hard into the middle her rival's back, sending Juuhachi-gou crashing to the ground with a tooth-rattling landing. While the Jinzouningen was already stunned from her crash, Amara took advantage of the situation again by coming down on Juuhachi-gou cruelly, driving her elbow into the cybernetic woman's spine, causing Juuhachi-gou sharply arch her back and cry out in pain, blood spewing from her sensuous lips.

Amara rose back to her feet to survey her handiwork on Juuhachi-gou, watching in cold satisfaction as her battered looking rival tried to slowly rise to her feet. She let it go on for a few more minutes, before she pushed her down flat to the ground with a foot. That demented smile returned to the demonic Princess's lovely, yet harsh features when she saw small blood smeared across Juuhachi-gou's bottom lip while even more trickled down both corners of her mouth.

Holding out her right hand, Amara crafted a long whip out of her ki. She then cracked it across Juuhachi-gou's back, extracting another sharp cry from her.

"You're not having it as easy as you thought you would, are you not?" Amara taunted, before whipping her again."Oh, poor little tin-girl! Are you feeling embarrassed? Feeling powerless to stop this all from happening?" She struck the other woman with each question. As she pulled back Juuhachi-gou's head so that she could look her in the face again, the smile vanished completely from the Saiyajin Princess's face, and was replaced by icy fury, her teeth gritting in a snarl. "How dare you! How dare you! You have no right to feel embarrassed! You have no right to feel helpless! Your pride and dignity wasn't ripped away like you did mine!"

When Juuhachi-gou moaned in pain, just the sound of it sent Amara into a whole new level of rage. She whipped the cyborg one more time, then two times, and then thrice, laughing like a derranged maniac as she punished her rival, reveling in the cyborg's agonized moans and cries. She suddenly paused in her brutality to grin down scornfully at the other woman.

"But don't worry, Juuhachi-gou. I will show you exactly how that feels!"

And then the beating went on.

There was a similar situation going on over where Majin Vegeta and Goku were battling at. The scene was very alike, for the Saiyajin no Ouji now had the clear-cut advantage over his lowborn rival, who was now pinned to the side of a cliffside, held even further pinned down by the rings of energy encircling his neck, arms, and legs- courtesy of the prince's _Ring Jyou no_ technique. Vegeta walked towards the entrapped Goku as if he had all the time in the world, which in his mind, he did. His lips quirked into a very nasty sneer as he drew up in front of the younger man. Then, adding insult to injury, Vegeta promptly slapped Goku in the face, then backhanded him, and repeated the motions twice more over.

"You didn't like that, fool?" Vegeta scoffed when Goku growled at him through clenched teeth, glaring at him defiantly. "Did what I've just done to you make you feel enraged? Did it mortify you? Does it make you feel helpless? Good!" Vegeta then became infuriated as he suffered memories of his past shortcomings at the hands of the other Saiyajin. He reared his right hand back and sent it rocketing forward into Goku's stomach, doing it continually before his other fist joined in, and pretty soon, the prince's fists were moving like twin blurs through the air as he pummelled the incapacitated younger Saiyajin unforgivingly. Goku could only hang there and take Vegeta's wrath, crying out with each strike to his abdomen.

When Vegeta finally stopped in his assault, he glared furiously at his quarry. "You bastard! You don't know what feeling angry and embarrassed and helpless feels like!" he spat angrily in Goku's face; if he wasn't so dignified of a warrior, he would've actually _spat _on the junior Saiyajin right then and there. "But I am very familiar with those feelings! How do you think I felt when it was YOU who was the first one of us in centuries to ever obtain the power of a Super Saiyajin- something by birthright that belonged solely to me! How do you think I felt when it was YOU who killed Furiiza- the same asshole who held me in bondage since I was a child, right after he slaughtered my father and the rest of the Saiyajin! How do YOU think I felt about all those times you saved me as if I was weak as a newborn? Unforgivable...Kakarott, you are completely unforgivable!"

Even though he was hurting, and a little more than ticked off at the prince, that everlasting compassion of Goku's couldn't help but to ache and feel pity for Vegeta. For with everything he'd just uttered, each time Goku had clearly heard the prince's rage, his bitterness, his shame over every time he succeeded where Vegeta had always failed at. All this time he'd known that Vegeta had been annoyed at him about all those things, even jealous, but he'd had no idea that the older man had felt so strongly about it. He'd thought that underneath all that, Vegeta had thought of him as someone who he could call friend like he thought of him. Though, he knew he shouldn't be surprised as Vegeta was a very prideful person, and it was that very same pride of his that would never let him truly see that all the times Goku had done those things that he hadn't been trying to outclass him. He'd only been trying to do what was right.

"Well, I shall make you experience each of those things," Vegeta declared, raising his right hand. "For I will cut you down, inch by inch, just as you've done my pride." He punctuated his last comment by bringing his raised hand down in a vertical chop, giving his younger counterpart an impression of just what he was planning to do to him.

Though he felt guilty and sympathetic toward the prince for the mental anguish he'd unintentional caused him, that still didn't mean that Goku was just going to stand there and let Vegeta kill him- well, make him even deader than he already was. And if the spellbound Prince did kill him now, then he would cease to exist either on Earth or in the Next World for that matter. He had to stop this!

Amara was truly relishing in the moment as she whipped Juuhachi-gou over and over. But that last blow she'd hit home with had been with a sense of finality behind it. She'd been doing this for the past several minutes, and many lashes covered Juuhachi-gou's back.

"This is the end, Android," she hissed, her voice sounding like acid, pressing her foot into the middle of Juuhachi-gou's spine, and grinding her foot on it. She grinned at the cries of pain it aroused from the Jinzouningen. If it hadn't been for Juuhachi-gou's body being mostly cybernetic, her spine would've certainly been crushed after the abused its been taking in the last few moments.

The berserk Saiyajin Princess then just took to standing on Juuhachi-gou's back, adding pressure, meanwhile she extended out her right hand toward the back of the cyborg's head, her fingers beginning to crackle with energy.

Beneath her, Juuhachi-gou growled in cold rage through gritted teeth, anger and pain thumping through her body simultaneously. She was not going to die this way. She just had to stop this!

Just when it seemed Vegeta and Amara were about to take out their individual rivals at the same time, the two found themselves surprised as Goku and Juuhachi-gou began trying to struggle desperately to get themselves out of their respective helpless situations.

Vegeta stared, looking startled, as Goku started to struggle against his ki restraints, growling through his clenched teeth.

Amara was experiencing the same thing as Juuhachi-gou began trying to rise back to her feet, while the princess's boot was still planted on her back, causing Amara's leg to wobble and break her concentration on gathering energy to deliver the killing blow.

Vegeta let out a noise of disbelief when he actually saw the ki rings on Goku's encircling body actually start to bulge from the rock they were embedded in_. *No, no, no, no!*_ he was saying in his mind, trying to deny what he was actually seeing. _*This can't be happening!*_

Amara gasped sharply as her rival was really heaving herself up to her hands and knees, even as Amara was still standing on her back. _*No! She's starting to come back! I can't let her...I just can't let her beat me again!*_

Then it happened, at the same time. With a mighty battle cry, Goku finally wrenched himself free from Vegeta's ki rings; first freeing his arms (though with the rocks still connected to his elbows), then his legs, and then finally his neck...much to Vegeta's shock. In the interim, Juuhachi-gou had finally raised herself high enough so that she could roll herself out from underneath Majin Amara's foot, causing her to slightly lose her balance for a brief moment before she steadied herself again. And while both the soul-enslaved regal warriors were trying to wrap their shocked minds around the fact that their rivals had broken free from the punishment they thought the two so rightfully deserved, Goku and Juuhachi-gou swiftly attacked in retaliation concurrently.

-already stunned that Kakarott had escaped his ki rings, Vegeta found himself even further stunned when Goku lunged at him and unkindly slammed the rock affixed to his right arm in the prince's face.

-Amara could only suffer Juuhachi-gou's wrath, as she viciously punched her in the face, knocking her head sharply to the side and making her teal eyes fly wide, and then was further abused by a snap kick that connected hard with her shoulder.

-with final battle cries, Goku smashed the other rock in Vegeta's face, and Juuhachi-gou punched Amara hard in the stomach.

Both blows sent the two Saiyajin royals flying backwards through the air. Though, while Vegeta crashed hard on the ground, below the precipice he'd just been standing on with Goku, Amara went flying several yards away, smashing into a collection of cliffs, her body breaking the rocks hard enough to bury her. But Juuhachi-gou wouldn't let it end like that, as she stretched out both her hands.

"INFINITY BOMB!" Juuhachi-gou shouted, pumping out countless ki bolts in the place where she had seen Amara land.

She stopped a moment later, lowering both hands. Immediately afterwards, she winced, her back still stinging from Amara's assault with her Energy Whip. The Majin cyborg then glowered murderously over at the spot where smoke was still rising from her energy attack. Juuhachi-gou took a step forward to go see if Majin Amara was dead or not, however, her attention was suddenly diverted away from her fallen rival, as she heard an explosion set off back over in the area she and Amara had left Vegeta and Goku at to fight.

As she stared in that direction, watching as many more detonations went off, a different kind of rage rose up within her. Then, without so much as glancing backwards, she kicked herself off the ground and flew towards the source of the other commotion.

However, some time later, Juuhachi-gou would end up regretting that she hadn't looked back, for if she had, she would've clearly seen the mountain of rocks that covered Amara start to shift some.

* * *

The battle between Goku and Vegeta was still raging on quite strongly. After recovering from the other man's counterattack, and the subsequent crash he'd made on the earth, Vegeta hurriedly heaved himself back up to his feet to meet his rival head on as he swiftly approached him. In the air, their brutal dance started all over again, arm meeting arm and feet meeting feet, from a distance, an ordinary person might've thought someone was firing machineguns in midair with the speed the two last full-blooded Saiyajin men of their near-extinct race were fighting at.

The younger Saiyajin eventually managed to slip under his elder's defenses and slam a uppercut punch to his jaw. As Vegeta hovered stunned before him, Goku maintained his attack by delivering a hard roundhouse punch to Vegeta's already throbbing jaw. The blow sent him flying sideways, and as he was, Goku fired a ki blast after him for good measure. The energy beam swiftly caught up to the Prince and carried him straight into, _and through_, the side of a large rock structure.

Goku had attempted to go after Vegeta, when suddenly, he caught a strange motion out the corner of his eye. Unfortunately for him, though, as he spun around to investigate whatever it was, he was met with a harsh fist that connected against his face at breakneck speed. It was a blow that would've quite clearly either fractured the skull or knocked their head off a regular person. Lucky for Goku, however, he wasn't a regular person. Still, that punch had hurt a lot, and whoever it was that attacked him had decided to finish him with a sharp kick to the side of his head that sent him flying to the side and down onto the earth below, where he landed bone-jarringly, his heavy body digging yet another crater in the ground, and laid there motionlessly.

His attacker glared down at him briefly, before finally flying in the direction Vegeta had crashed in.

A moan of half-pain, half-aggravation escaped Vegeta's lips as he was still feeling the after-effects of his less than cordial alighting through the rock structure Goku had thrown him through, and onto the hard-packed ground. Even though his archrival had once again gained the upper hand in their fierce battle, Majin Vegeta chuckled in spite of himself.

"This is the fight I've been waiting for," he said to himself. "This is the all-out battle I've been dreaming of us having for the longest of time, Kakarott."

As he started to revive some more, and rose himself up to a sitting position, Vegeta quickly realized that he was now in a cavern when he saw the stalactites hovering above him in a ominous manner, like large teeth of some gigantic beast. The cave was mostly dark , save for the sunlight of late afternoon shining through the hole his body had made as he was falling inside. Still, for the first time that the prince could remember, he could truly say that the darkness completely outweighed the light in this situation, and would make perfect cover for someone wanting to surprise their opponents.

Vegeta grinned at the idea. His rival wouldn't know what hit him.

"Huh?" Vegeta said a moment later, when his finely-tuned battled senses alerted him to impending danger. As they were the majority of the time, his senses were right when he suddenly felt a whoosh of air hit the back of his neck, coupled with the sound someone's feet touching down on the ground.

Someone else was in the cavern with him.

Because of his nature, it was on the prince's mind to quickly move out of the way and get to his feet, as he knew that it was Kakarott coming to continue their fight. However, he didn't move from where he was as he noticed something about whoever was standing behind him. He could feel no ki emanating from them, which at first made him think that his rival might just be masking his power level, but then that made him wonder why Goku would go through the trouble of trying to hide his ki in the first place as he knew his rival must've been aware that he knew he was there. Then again, with the younger Saiyajin, one just never knew what he was thinking.

But then he noticed something else about the other person. There was a very familiar scent emanating off them- one he's become so familiar with over the past seven years, and intermixed with it was small amounts of his own scent.

As soon as realization hit him, Vegeta sharply looked around, coming face to face with a pair of recognizable brown boots. His turquoise gaze then travelled slowly upward, tracking across a pair of blue jeans, which were ripped and torn in several places, that clung appreciatively to a pair of long legs. They then travelled over a black shirt with white and black striped sleeves (wait- what was that red stain on the right sleeve? Blood?). His stare soon landed on a slender, pale neck then upwards to a pair of lips- lips he'd tasted on an innumerable occasions, before his stare finally landed on a pair of china-blue eyes.

Vegeta scowled coldly. "What the hell do you want?"

Juuhachi-gou smirked down at him wickedly.

"You look hurt. Allow me to help you up, dear," she said sweetly, before promptly slamming her foot in her husband's face...

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	29. The True Evil Awakens

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: The True Evil Awakens**

* * *

_*Well, here I go,* _Gohan thought, his face hard as he glowered steadily at Dabura, who was still staring back at him as if he wasn't really a major threat to him. The idea that the demonic warrior thought that he, Son Gohan, was someone who he could just dismissively look over as far as competition went angered the half-Saiyajin. No matter how much his human nature strongly protested against any kind of violence, his Saiyajin nature was all for it, and it just could not take someone underrating him as a warrior. _*It's time Dabura and I settled things for good. And if I can beat him, then his spell on Piccolo-san and Kuririn-san will be broken, and they'll change back into living beings.*_

Just the reminder that the lives of two very good friends of his depended on the outcome of this fight, strengthened the teenager's resolve tenfold. With a look of unwavering determination, Gohan hunched his body a bit in a familiar posture, clenching his fists at his side, gritting his teeth, and spreading his legs out, his foot loudly digging a small, dull trench in the terrain as he did so. Kaioushin and their opposition were watching him, simultaneously wondering what the young hero was up to.

A growl escaped through Gohan's clenched teeth as he dug deep inside himself, just like he'd done earlier back at the tournament, searching for that inactive power that had helped him in the past on so many occasions like this one. His ki began to sharply, though gradually, rise like the lava that builds up inside a volcano before it ultimately erupted. _There_! He could feel it- well, he almost felt it. He had just touched the edge of something warm and electrifying within himself, and though it had been a brief touch, he could still recognize it as that same sensation he always experienced whenever his rage overtook him. However, before he could plunge into that power, letting it bath over him and transform him into that formidable warrior he'd been when he fought Cell, he was suddenly met with a strong resistance, preventing him from tapping into that power.

Gohan grimaced; he knew that opposition all-too well: it was his human nature. Even now, he could almost hear it saying to him, _*I will not allow you to use that power again! You just can't!*_

The teenager hated feeling conflicted like this, especially while he was predicaments that concerned the very well-being of all his family and friends and everyone else on the planet. But he couldn't help that. It came from being born a crossbreed of two different races- one who craved for everlasting peace and another that craved for everlasting violence.

Beside him, Kaioushin was staring at him worriedly. *_I wonder what's wrong with Gohan? I could've sworn he was about to transform, but he didn't.*_ Unknown to Gohan, while he'd been trying to power-up, his hair had been flickering vaguely, but then it had stopped entirely. The god certainly hoped nothing was wrong with the teenager, especially at a time like this! He needed the half-Saiyajin's help desperately.

Babidi and Dabura had noticed it, too, and while the former was staring at the youth in a bored manner, a nasty smile curved the demon's face as a realization had just hit him from watching the half-Saiyajin visibly struggling to power-up.

"What's the matter? Have you finally realized you have no hope for victory?" he taunted, laughing derisively at his so-called competition.

Gohan snarled at the Demon King, glowering at him in cold annoyance. He'd make Dabura eat his words, just as soon as he could transform...but for some reason, he couldn't? He couldn't summon up that Power again, and it was unsettling to him because he'd just done so earlier when he and Kibito were supposed to face-off in the Budokai. So, what was keeping him from doing now?

Then he remembered what his father had told him before he'd gone off to fight with Vegeta: _*Get angry, Gohan. Remember how you got angry when you fought Cell and brought forth all of your strength? If you do that again, you don't have to worry about anything. No one can beat you.* _

_*But I just can't get angry enough!* _Gohan screamed in frustration as he pushed himself up into Super Saiyajin. Gohan looked down at himself, then he clenched his fist. _*Well, even in spite of that, things aren't completely hopeless. There's still a chance at winning."_

"Dabura!" Babidi shrieked to his follower (while still hiding behind Dabura's legs), trying to be heard over all the commotion. "What in the world is that boy doing?"

"As I've said before, he's only protracting his own inevitable defeat," Dabura said unconcernedly. After all, it hadn't worked the first time the boy had done it, so certainly it didn't mean anything now.

Gohan suddenly let out a fierce battle cry and rushed forward, an air of finality surrounding him as he did so. The half-Saiyajin had only moved several steps away from Kaioushin's side, when a surprisingly piercing whistle-like sound rung through the air, like the sound a teakettle made whenever it steamed. It made Gohan stop dead in his tracks and freeze in place along with everybody else. The strange noise continued to shriek steadily through the air, and after a moment, everyone stared in the direction they were hearing the commotion coming from, and became wide-eyed.

No one knew what to think or say as they watched steam erupting out of the dais Majin Buu's ball was resting on. The lights within the ball seemed to have taken on a more malicious tone, as it glowed and pulsed more wildly.

Slowly, almost dreamlike, Babidi walked away from Dabura and wandered over towards Majin Buu's egg. As he arrived, his saucer-sized green eyes immediately fell onto the meter, and his breath hitched sharply in his throat at what he found himself looking at. The meter's needle...it was now resting directly on the M. As realization of what this significant moment had meant hit Babidi a few moments later, the warlock nearly fainted.

He couldn't believe it, he had done it.

Majin Buu was at full power.

* * *

In his new state of power, Majin Vegeta had thought he was completely prepared for anything that could be possibly thrown his way. However, what he hadn't been prepared for was his wife attacking him. Even as she'd kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling halfway across the cavern, he wasn't completely shocked by this. Over the past few years they've been together, Juuhachi-gou had taken it upon herself to surprise him every so often by starting impromptu battles between the two of them. Particularly when it didn't seem like he was paying attention. She'd told him that she did it just to help keep him in fighting shape, which he tartly responded by telling her as if he really needs to be helped staying in fighting shape. Though, in his personal opinion, Vegeta believed she did that just because she loved to fight almost as much as he did. It was a, sometimes irritating, behavior that had secretly endeared her to him.

Now, he just found it completely unacceptable, as she was interrupting his fight with Kakarott. But what had surprised him, though, was the sheer ferocity behind the blow. It had HURT! More than what he'd even admit to himself. Sure, Juuhachi-gou never held back whenever they sparred together, but that last shot had actually been meant to deliver some very heavy damage- a task it had succeeded in, for even now he could feel his own blood trickling down his face from the area his mate had struck him in. The left side of his vision suddenly turned red as that very same blood dropped into his eye, and while he was raising his head to glare up at Juuhachi-gou, the prince found himself being taken back to their first major fight seven years ago when they'd fought on the highway. She even looked the same from back then, merciless and cold and damned beautiful (save for the M tattooed on her smooth forehead); and as he looked up into her eyes he could clearly see that they were ablaze with icy fury. He wanted to say that she looked so enraged was due to Babidi's spell on her, because he knew firsthand how crazy it could make a person, however, he had a gut feeling that she was angry at him for more than just the effects of the warlock's magic.

Growling, Vegeta used the back of his right gloved hand to wipe the blood out of his eyes, and then swiftly rose back up to his feet. His expression contorting to match the rage that could be plainly seen on Juuhachi-gou's face as she glared back at him, his eyes turning into teal ice as he narrowed them on the beautiful blonde woman.

"You dare strike me, woman?" he barked.

In reply, Juuhachi-gou bristled furiously and shot towards Vegeta again, who'd barely even seen her move, and slammed a vicious right cross in his face that sent him colliding into the rocky wall at the back of the cavern. Before he could even slide off the wall, Juuhachi-gou was on him, wrapping her slender hands around his throat. Vegeta suddenly found himself having extreme difficulty to breath as he trapped in the vice grip of his angry lover, her frosty blue eyes boring into him with razor-sharp anger as she glowered down at him.

"Quiet!" Juuhachi-gou snapped, gritting her teeth at her mate. "I've been listening to that big trap of yours for the last seven years, but not anymore!" Something wicked, deadly, slid into her chilling eyes, turning her expression purely demonic, as she added just a little bit more pressure in her chokehold on Vegeta, causing his throat to painfully constrict even more, making him breath desperately for fresh air. Majinzou Juuhachi-gou relished in cruel glee as Vegeta soon started to cough up blood, though she paid no attention as some of it landed on her right shirt sleeve, making the red stain already tarnishing it a little bit bigger.

"You bastard!" she shouted furiously. "First Cell, and now Amara? I want let you treat my life as if it's something you can throw away at a moment's inconvenience!" Majinzou Juuhachi-gou's mien subtly changed into regret as she stared down at the ground."I thought in time, I might just be able to forgive you some day, but no...I can never forgive now!"

Raising her eyes back to his, they were ablaze again. She viciously drove her other fist into Vegeta's stomach. The battered prince let out a strangled cry as the air, which was already becoming limited thanks to Juuhachi-gou choking him, was knocked from his lungs, and he crumbled to the ground, holding his stomach.

Juuhachi-gou snorted as she looked down at her hurting husband in utter contempt. "You're so pathetic! I don't even know how the hell I was able to sleep in the same damn bed with you for the past seven years! Why, I ought to-"

Juuhachi-gou discontinued her sentence as her enhance hearing suddenly picked up the sound of someone coming into the room with her Vegeta, and coming inside there very fast. Even as she quickly spun around to meet whoever it was, she still wasn't able to stop what had happened next. She only managed to get a brief look at the feral madness that inflamed the approaching Saiyajin no Oujo's eyes, before she collided into her, and sent the two of them smashing completely through the wall Juuhachi-gou just had Majin Vegeta against, scarring yet another portion of the cavern.

As he lay there on the ground, eyes screwed shut, writhing quietly in agony, Majin Vegeta had dimly heard what had just happened, but was hurting just a little too much at the moment to really give it much thought. His stomach was still feeling as if a megaton steel had just been rammed into it.

In the next instant, Vegeta quite clearly heard someone else land inside the cavern with him, and then the sound of rushing feet as someone was jogging toward him. Just as he was wondering who it was, he found himself listening to the one, nauseating voice he didn't want to hear right now.

"Vegeta, are you all right?" Goku asked, staring down at the prince's collapsed, still form on the floor sympathetically. He'd just recovered from that surprise attack he'd just suffered, and had immediately rushed inside the cave to see did whatever had attacked him had also attacked Majin Vegeta. And he'd been right, too. "Hey Vegeta, say something!"

Fury quickly swelled up inside Vegeta as he could quite clearly hear the concern in his rival's voice as he was speaking to him, and it made him sick. How dare that lowborn treat him as if he was some fragile human! And to make matter's worse, Vegeta suddenly heard another sound, one quite disturbing to him. He heard his rival coming closer to him, probably check him out thoroughly. And just the mere thought of his rival touching him, infuriated the possessed warrior even more, his anger edging off his pain some.

Goku had just been about to kneel down and shake his comrade's shoulders, in some attempt to snap him back into consciousness. When all of a sudden, he found himself being surprised as Vegeta suddenly sprung up with snakelike speed and roughly headbutted him full on in the face. Goku let out a mixed cry of surprise and pain as he was sent flying across the cave as Vegeta himself had been...

Meanwhile, some distance away from the cave, Amara had finally thrown Juuhachi-gou to the ground, but only for the cyborg to reflexively backflip onto her feet. Undaunted by this, Amara screamed out a battle cry and charged at her enemy again, landing a punch to the face. Juuhachi-gou used her momentum to counter with double roundhouse kick combination attack. However, Amara slipped behind Juuhachi-gou after the second kick, catches her by the waist and drives her head-first against the ground with a wrestling-style German Suplex. Spinning around back onto her feet, Amara springs back in...only to collide stomach-first right into the back of Juuhachi-gou's elbow. As Amara hovered in midair, stunned, Juuhachi-gou grabbed her face, spun once and flung the other woman through the air where she landed roughly onto the ground, face first, several yards away.

Almost quickly, Amara pulled herself back up to her feet and turned to glare coldly at Juuhachi-gou. For a moment, the two exchange looks, then, slowly, smirks curled both of their faces.

"I never expected this to be so exhilarating!" Juuhachi-gou said. "Now I definitely see why you Saiyajin love fighting so much."

Amara nodded in agreement. "Yes, this far exceeded my expectation as well. I have dreamt of this moment for years when we would fight again. Unfortunately, it seems you and I are completely dead even now." The Princess's lips twisted in a unpleasant smile. "I was hoping that when I forced you into looking for Babidi for power, I would still be stronger."

Juuhachi-gou's eyebrows rose. "Huh?"

The possessed Saiyajin Princess laughed in disdainful amusement. "Do you think all of this has happened because you chose to do it? You were never in control of the situation to begin with, or that idiot Babidi for that matter!"

Juuhachi-gou gasped in surprise. "So...you orchestrated all of this?...From the very beginning?"

"That's right!" Amara admitted. Her expression hardened as she continued. "While you have spent the seven years being a simple housewife and mother, I've been training non-stop! In your fight with your son and Kakarott's at the tournament, I saw it clear as day that I was far superior to you now. When I got my revenge on you, I wanted it to be in a grand battle, but due to the wide gap in our power, you wouldn't be worth fighting anymore, and it pissed me off! I just couldn't let things end this way. So, when Kosumo informed us that your heart had been touched by chaos and would make you a prime candidate for one of Babidi's soldiers, I remembered the power Spopovich and Yamu displayed, and that's when it hit me. If you were put under Babidi's spell, maybe you would be strong enough to at least amuse me a bit before I defeated you. However, something else occurred to me. What if when you did receive the power-up from Babidi and your power ended up exceeding my own? So to ensure that didn't happen, I too allowed myself to become possessed by Babidi. As I've said before, I would pay you back no matter what it took! Now here we are..."

"I see..." Juuhachi-gou said slowly in understanding. "You're quite the manipulator, Amara...You and that man really do share the same blood." The cyborg smirked in spite of herself. "Too bad for you that things aren't going to go the way you planned. Why we're equal in power now, one advantage I still have over you is my infinite stamina. You can't keep fighting at this intensity forever, but I can. While you will eventually tire out, I'll still remain strong, and then you're all mine!"

Amara's face twisted in anger, her fists clenching. "Don't worry, you'll be dead long before I tire out! There's some other business I still have to take care of, but I just couldn't pass up the chance settle things with you!" During her dialogue, she reflected back on her mate being transformed into a stone statue by Dabura's saliva. Snarling, the demonic Princess ridded herself of the memory. "No, my pride just wouldn't let me pass up such a great opportunity! No matter the cost!"

Another explosion bellowed loudly through mountain range for the umpteenth time today, as a cave shattered into oblivion under the intense stress of a ki-beam- push-of-war between two Saiyajin. The detonation whipped up a large cloud of dust, dirt, and rock fragments, blinding Goku in the process. Some might've been a little surprised to hear someone as pure-hearted as Goku seemed to be swear loudly in irritation, as he rubbed vigoriously at his eyes to get rid of the grit that gotten into it from the explosion.

But unluckily for him, Vegeta had saw this, and perfectly played the part of the opportunist that he was. While Goku was still busy trying to clean his eyes out, he never saw the prince sneaking up on him until he suddenly felt clasped hands strike him sharply in his upper back. The dead warrior could do nothing but propel forward as he was again sent sailing through the air. Only a millisecond later, however, Vegeta was on the younger man once again, viciously slamming his elbow into the other Saiyajin's back.

The prince watched down in dark satisfaction as his rival dropped hard on the unkind ground, even further delighted by the loud grunt of pain he let out upon impact. Though, he wasn't going to stop after that, as he promptly extended his right arm out, folding back the thumb on his hand in an all-too-familiar gesture.

"BIG BANG ATTACKKK!" he howled.

The massive beam of energy burned through the air, as it made a swift beeline towards its intended target...and it hit home. Another explosion erupted, as the blast chewed up the earth, and as well as Kakarott. A smug smile tugged at Vegeta's lips as he stared down at the spot where his rival had been, knowing that he had just caused even more damage to his nemesis, and further his chances of victory...

Vegeta gasped in surprise, when the dust had started to settle, and in the place where he had hoped to see a severely injured man, was a gaping hole. Where did he go?

"Now, was that aimed at me?" asked an amused voice.

Looking away from the hole, the dark prince found his quarry a few feet away from the hole. Goku sat on a boulder, arms folded, smiling up at him with something close to arrogance.

"Well, then. Aren't we the escape artist," Vegeta said, smirking in spite of himself.

"Heh. You aren't the only one who's been learning new tricks these past seven years," Goku said. "And I've only gotten started."

Vegeta's smirk widened. "And so have I."

* * *

Babidi reached down to pick up the energy meter off its stand, cradling it carefully as if he feared he would drop it; with the way his hands were trembling, dropping it was a very definite possibility. He was still having a hard time actually believing what he was reading off the meter's gauge, even though it was quite clearly resting flat on the M. And he knew that the meter wouldn't normally be able to do that, unless...unless Majin Buu really had regained his full strength just like the meter was showing to him now. As his brain digested that conclusion carefully, he let out a drawn-out cry.

"Babidi-sama?" Dabura said uncertainly, looking at the warlock in concern after his bewildering outburst. Like any faithful servant would, the demonic warrior paced over to his master to check on him. "Is everything all right? Nothing bad as happened to Majin Buu, has it?"

After a moment, Babidi shook himself to snap himself out of his daze, and looked up at the Demon King with an expression of barely contained jubilance. "Is everything all right, you ask! Why, everything is more than all right, Dabura! It's fantastic!" he exclaimed in glee. At the mildly puzzled expression he saw on Dabura's face, Babidi promptly showed him the energy meter. "Here! Take a good look at this!"

Like always, Dabura dutifully did as Babidi told him to do. His expression changed like quicksilver when he peered down into the meter's gage, from mild surprise to devilish triumph.

"I don't believe it," he said, half to himself. "Those four fools actually did. They actually gave Majin Buu the energy to be freed!"

"I know! Isn't it wonderful?" Babidi said, beginning to feel almost dizzy from the joy he was feeling. "Majin Buu is finally back at full power!"

As he'd been shouting that aloud for the whole world to hear what he thought was the greatest thing to ever have happened, Gohan and Kaioushin had overheard him, and the two blanched in horror where they stood. Kaioushin, his skin already pale to begin with, was nearly as white as a sheet as he stared over at the egg, appalled, his heart seizing in his chest.

_*No, no, no, no! This just can't be happening!*_ he was shouting to himself in denial. *_That beast just can't be coming back! He just can't!*_

But even as he tried to futilely convince himself of that, the steam spraying out on all sides of Majin Buu's ball had gradually started to die down. The strange glow that it had once been bathing in just a few minutes ago was gone, making the egg look more brownish in color than purple. Gohan grimaced at that, realizing something was about to happen: the coming of Majin Buu.

"Th-this is...unbelievable!" Kaioushin stammered in shock. "It just doesn't make any sense! We should've had more time than this to prevent Majin Buu's release!"

_*He's right,* _Gohan privately agreed. *_He and I should've had a lot more time than this to stop Babidi from freeing Majin Buu. But what had sped up the time so quickly?*_

Almost as soon as he asked himself that, something occurred to him, just after three familiar ki signatures brushed against his senses.

"Now I know why we didn't have enough time!" he blurted. Kaioushin looked at him half-curiously. "It was because of the fights going on between my father and Vegeta, and Amara and Juuhachi-gou! Dad, Vegeta, and Amara must have been fighting at a level beyond a regular Super Saiyajin this whole time. Since they're clashing on such high levels, the damage must be astounding...That's why Majin Buu was able to recover his full power in such a short matter of time!"

Both Vegeta and Goku jumped backwards in opposite directions to put some distance between each other, standing in ready position. Both were breathing hard, however, the two were far from tired.

"I don't believe it, "Goku said first. "I thought I trained considerably in the afterlife, but you and I are completely on par with each other"

"No, you're wrong," Vegeta corrected him. "While I trained harder than you, but you're a greater fighting genius than I am. No matter how much I pushed myself, I would never be able to close the gap between us. It was when you fought Babidi's monster that I realized what I had to do. It shocked me, so that's why I secretly resolved myself..."

Goku's eyes widened in disbelief. "I see...! When Babidi..."

"Yes. The people who knew the two that Babidi possessed had become far stronger than before...I remembered that, and then thought...If I allowed Babidi to take me over, then maybe the difference between us would cease to exist. And I was right...I hated doing it, but..."

"You were so desperate to get stronger that you allowed Babidi to put you under his spell," Goku finished. He shook his head. "To tell the truth, I had kinda suspected this, however, I just couldn't believe it."

"I...I...I wanted to be the way like I used to be!" Majin Vegeta howled, becoming a titanic explosion of power. "I wanted to fight you as a cold-blooded Saiyajin, with no regards for anyone but myself!" He powered down. "That's why I let Babidi posses me, so I can be evil again. And now that I have..." Vegeta grinned sadistically. "It feels wonderful!"

Kaioushin wasn't exactly relieved by that explanation. In fact, he looked even more miserable by it. Even though they were standing a bit of a stretch from each other, Babidi could quite clearly see the mixed look of fear and anger on his mortal enemy's face, and it made him feel all darkly giddy inside, and he burst in sadistic laughter.

"Kaioushin, you miserable fool!" he sneered. "Majin Buu's about to freed again, and you can't do a thing to stop it!"

Kaioushin shook with anger, mostly because he knew Babidi was right, and he didn't like that at all. He had tried to hard to prevent this day from ever happening; he knew first hand just what exactly Bibidi's creation was capable of doing, and he had never wanted to go through that ever again, or see other innocent people go through it like all those centuries ago. It was as Babidi had just said. Now that Majin Buu was coming back, there really was nothing he could. He was completely powerless to stop this.

Not even the Z-Senshi could stop it.

Abruptly, Kaioushin dropped on his knees, a look of complete hopelessness and despair covering his face.

"Kaioushin-sama? What are you doing?" Gohan asked, perplexed. "Get up!"

"What's the use?" Kaioushin responded, the despair of his voice shocking Gohan and amusing both Babidi and Dabura. "Majin Buu's coming, and there's nothing we can do about. Not you. And not Goku."

"Would you stop talking like that?" Gohan demanded, a hint of annoyance flavoring his voice. "You keep talking as if we're already dead and that this battle is already won."

"But..."

"But nothing," Gohan firmly cut him off. "This battle is far from being over, and Majin Buu hasn't come back just yet. And I'm going to personally make sure he doesn't.

"Huh?" Kaioushin and Babidi said at the same time. Meanwhile, Dabura fixed Gohan a suspicious stare.

They watched, as Gohan spread his legs apart and then turn his body to the side, cupping his hands together.

"What is that boy up to?" Babidi wondered, starting to get a very bad feeling.

"Kame...hame...HAAAA!" Gohan roared, and he unleashed the Kamehameha Wave with all his might. The intense ki beam barreled through the air straight towards the egg where Buu slept in, and incidentally, Dabura and Babidi happened to be standing in the path of the blast. Swiftly, Dabura grabbed his master and jumped out of the way, then the blast struck it head on. For a long time, the blast splashed ferociously against the side of the ball, trying to penetrate through and hit the entity that rested inside of it. Suddenly, the ki blast collapsed against itself and exploded...

KERBOOOMMM!

The explosion tossed the ball high up into the air briefly, before it landed in the same place the dais (which had gotten destroyed in the explosion) once stood with a bone-jarring force. Pink smoke rose harmlessly into the air, as the egg was split opened in halves. Everyone stared in shock.

There was no one inside.

"Impossible!" said Gohan.

"I-I don't believe it," Kaioushin whispered in stunned disbelief.

"What?" Babidi exclaimed in shock, as he moved in to get a closer look at the painfully bare ball. "Where is he?...where's Majin Buu?...This is all wrong! Majin Buu is supposed to be in here, just as my father scrolls said. This just doesn't make any sense!"

What was going on here? Where was Majin Buu? Had he been inside that ball so long that he just evaporated into nothingness? Babidi didn't want to believe that all. Babidi didn't want to believe that all those days and nights he spent searching for his father's creation had been for nothing.

All of a sudden, the air was disrupted by the sound of laughter. Everyone turned in unison to see Kaioushin, who'd been the complete embodiment of despair just a few moments ago, was laughing as if someone had told him a very funny joke. Babidi and Dabura glared daggers at the god.

"Stop that! Stop your laughing," Babidi growled angrily.

When Kaioushin managed to get himself under control, he rose back to his feet and smiled triumphantly towards the warlock.

"Too bad, Babidi. All those years of plotting and planning to revive your father's creation has all been for nothing."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Babidi snapped, looking as if he was about to lose it. "I have not come up empty! It just can't be!"

"But it is, Madoshi," Kaioushin told him, getting serious. "And now I'm going to send you to hell with your father."

Drawing up beside Babidi, Dabura clapped a hand on Babidi's shoulder. "Don't worry, Babidi-sama. While we may not have found what we're looking for, I'm still here, and I won't let Kaioushin or that brat lay one hand on you."

"All right, Gohan, let's finished this," Kaioushin said, sounding more confident than he had been moments ago. Looking up at the teen, Kaioushin smile and added, "I really do hope you realize the importance of this day. Majin Buu is gone, and we'll never wreak havoc and destruction on the lives of innocent people ever again."

"But...you're wrong!" Gohan blurted out.

The smile quickly left Kaioushin's face. "Gohan, what do you mean? Majin Buu is no more...This fight is ours."

Gohan didn't hear him. He was too busy trying to make sense of an awful presence he'd just felt. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"N-no...Can't you sense it?" Gohan asked. "A tremendous ki has swelled up. Th-this...!"

Just as soon as he said that, he abruptly remembered the pink smoke rising in the air after the ball had been split opened. A look of consternation adorned Gohan's face, as he then stared upward towards the sky. His pale skin turned even paler at what he saw.

"Up there!" he shouted, pointing towards the sky.

Everyone else looked skyward as well, and various expressions of surprise and bewilderment slipped on their faces at what they saw. Hovering high about them, was a thick, giant pink cloud.

"What in the world...?" asked Kaioushin, a bad feeling starting to arise in him.

"What is that?" Babidi wondered.

Dabura stared up at the anomaly thoughtfully. "Hm. Now that I remember, I precisely remember seeing pink smoke ascending out of that empty egg."

In the next instant, to all their surprise, the cloud suddenly started the move. For a few moments, it twisted and churned, before it started to solidify into a shape. First a pair of short, pudgy legs could made out, followed two arms; the outline of an obese body could soon be discern by the four. Then finally a large head with a loopy antenna. Abruptly, in speed of a heartbeat, the cloud changed for gas to completely solid, revealing an obese, pink creature in a black vest trimmed gold, white pants, yellow shoes and gloves on a pair of hands larger than his arms. As everyone froze in place, the strange creature shouted his name to the world:

"BUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	30. Return of the Childly Terror, Majin Buu

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Thirty: Return of the Childly Terror, Majin Buu**

* * *

For those who had never laid eyes on Majin Buu before today, after all the atrocious things they had heard about him doing millions of years ago, the pink corpulent creature hovering hundred yards or so up in the air above them wasn't exactly what they had been expecting. Kaioushin, on the other hand, had laid eyes on Majin Buu before now, which was the reason behind the increased look of fear and despair in his eyes as he gaped at the monster.

Finally, with an exuberant whoop, Majin Buu broke free from gravity's grip and allowed himself to drop to the ground, resembling a torpedo as he plunged out of the afternoon sky with no care at all. He touched down on the ground with surprising grace for his size, his landing making the terrain briefly quaver. Gohan and Kaioushin instantly braced themselves, just in case Buu had decided to go on the attack right away. Babidi and Dabura had steeled themselves as well, despite the fact that they had been the ones who wanted to see the Majin freed from his imprisonment in the first place.

Actually, Majin Buu didn't even seem to notice the people standing on either side of him at all. Instead, he was surveying his new surroundings with the quiet awe of a young child. He shaded his eyes with a large gloved hand as he took in the blueness of the sky, the various sized and shaped clouds, the blazing orange sun, and the rocky landscape of his environ with great appreciation. It was pretty understandable he seemed so wowed by it all, seeing as how he had been he had been trapped inside a ball for centuries. He had hated being trapped inside there. It had been one continuous boring experience for him, forcing him to do nothing but sleep all the time, since that was the only thing his cramped prison had room for him to do.

Sure, sleeping for millions of years hadn't really been all that bad, but it had cut in on his fun-time. But now, he was free again...free to have all the fun he wanted and make up for all the time that had passed by after he was incarcerated.

Smiling hugely, Majin Buu thrust his arms into the air and shouted to the world, in his own words, that he was back: "BUUUUUUUU!"

"Kaioushin-sama?" Gohan spoke for the first time since the demon's resurrection, his gold-white brows furrowed as he looked at the proclaimed destroyer of planets in disbelief. "Er, is that being over there...really Majin Buu?"

Missing the uncertainly tone in the teenager's voice, Kaioushin answered, "Yes. It's him, all right. I would know that face anywhere. Even to this day I still see it in my nightmares!"

Gohan continued to look over at the God dubiously.

"So he's really a Majin?" he asked, turning his eyes back over onto Buu, who was now pounding his chest like an excited gorilla. "He sure doesn't look as horrible as you had described to us earlier. In fact, he kinda resembles a little kid."

It was true. Instead of wearing the usual evil sneer that Gohan had become wonted to seeing on every villain he's ever faced off against over the years, Majin Buu's expression was that of childlike curiosity and naivety. A huge smile split his face, making him seen even less cruel than the monster Kaioushin had made him out to be.

"Gohan, don't you dare allow yourself to be tricked by his ruse!" Kaioushin admonished. "I tell you, that creature over there is the incarnation of pure evil itself! That naive expression he wears is nothing more than a pretense he keeps up to fool everyone around him; he is the deadliest being you have ever encountered. Even the likes of Furiiza, Cell, and Kaosu can't compare to him."

Although he heard the desperation in the deity's voice pleading for him to understand, Gohan still had his doubts about Majin Buu. He wasn't calling Kaioushin a liar or anything; every time Kaioushin spoke about Buu, he could clearly hear the fear in his voice. Gohan knew there had to be some truth to Kaioushin's words if he was this afraid. Still, he himself was having a hard time believing that the djinn was as deathly dangerous as everyone kept saying he was. While he could feel a tremendous ki emanating from the Majin, at the same time it still wasn't at a level that could worry him.

"Listen, Gohan-san," Kaioushin began, his voice a near-whisper. Gohan lifted a brow the god as he noticed him starting to backtrack a step backwards. "We must get out of here now, and very quickly, before Majin Buu see's..."

The rest of the god's words paused instantly at the edge of his mouth when Majin Buu suddenly looked askance, his nearsighted gaze falling directly on him and Gohan. Kaioushin froze solidly in place with dread.

"Hm?" Majin Buu said as finally noticed Kaioushin and Gohan standing too far away from him for the first time since his release, the already large smile he had on his face seemed to grow a little bit wider at seeing the two of them. Glancing in the other direction, he also noticed Dabura and Babidi, and smiled even slightly wider some more.

People. It had been such a very long time since he'd been able to see other people. Despite the length of time he'd spent inside his imprisonment, he still quite clearly remembered people. He recalled all the fun he used to have doing all kinds of unpleasant things to them; he used to think it was just one big game whenever people tried to run from him or cry at him for mercy, or in some very rare cases, try to fight him, and they also made good candy. That had been the game he loved most of all, because he always won. And now he was once again able to play with people as much as he wanted.

He decided he wanted a closer look at these strange people, so he chose to inspect Gohan and Kaioushin first. Humming cheerfully, he started to advance on the two, hopping lightly from one foot to another.

"Here he comes," Gohan muttered tensely, fists clenched as he was prepared if Buu really was about to attack right now.

_*I don't know why we're still here. We're only just delaying the inevitable!*_ Kaioushin thought pessimistically. *_We'll only be killed if we try to fight Buu!*_

However, when Majin Buu did draw up in front of him and Gohan, the deity found himself a bit surprised when his fearsome enemy hadn't attacked the two of them immediately. In the past, Majin Buu would have destroyed a person just as soon as he laid eyes on them, yet here he was looking from him to Gohan, in a way that was more out of curiosity than trying to decide who he would kill first. Nevertheless, the god kept himself nerved; he would not fall for Majin Buu's false act! Kaioushin knew Buu was evil inside and out. Unlike Gohan, he knew it wouldn't be long now before he started craving for that blood-thirsty urge of his to destroy everyone and everything on Earth...and then the rest of the universe.

For right now, though, the only thing Majin Buu was intending to do was get a good close look at the people he was about to play with. The two he was staring at now was quite funny-looking in his opinion, especially the boy with the pale skin. Buu couldn't remember playing with anyone like him back in the old days when he had been allowed to have all the fun he wanted for days on end. However, the second man, the one with the lavender skin, looked quite familiar to the djinn; he could recall a memory of the lavender-skinned man lying prone, battered, and bruised on the ground, meanwhile he was laughing at something or another. Maybe it was at that angry-looking, little green man that was shouting at him in the memory?

Majin Buu had grown bored with Gohan and Kaioushin, as he soon spun around and started to hop over towards Babidi and Dabura, humming to himself again. Once he was out of earshot, Kaioushin and Gohan both released breaths they hadn't even known they'd been holding in just then.

_*Oh, here he comes!*_ Babidi thought the same thing Gohan had said earlier.

It was his and Dabura's turn to be on guard now, as the rotund creature was swiftly closing in on the distance between them. Babidi felt silly for doing so; why should he have to be on guard around the djinn that his father had created eons ago? Still, he couldn't really help but to do so as Majin Buu wasn't exactly acting like the destructive beast he had always heard him to be. He was acting more like a large playful child, as he droned and skipped over to the Madoshi's way.

Was the creature he staring at really the same beast his father had ordered to destroy innumerable galaxies? It had never crossed his mind that being trapped inside that ball for so long would affect the djinn like this. Maybe he made a mistake...

Majin Buu stopped an arms-length away from the warlock and his demonic follower. Shading his eyes and leaning forward a bit on his tiptoes, Majin Buu scrutinized the pair like he'd done the other two. He looked over at the taller one first, who was looking back at him narrowly. The djinn thought this one looked quite funny with his deep, rich red skin, which reminded him of the color of blood. Majin Buu smiled a little bigger at the red man; he had no doubt that this one was going to be a very fun playmate.

He then swung his gaze over to the shorter man, who was staring up at him in half-awe and half-wariness. Buu found this one to be more funny-looking than the other three, with yellow, wrinkled skin and eyes that looked almost to large too fit on his head. However, like with that lavender guy, Majin Buu thought this one looked familiar, too. He reminded him of that little, green man he remembered shouting at him while the lavender one was lying on the ground. In fact, now that he thought about it, the green one had been the one who'd ordered him to only kill and destroy things. And the green one had also been the one who locked him up inside that ball for all these years. Majin Buu never liked that little green man, even if he would give him cake just to destroy an entire planet. What was his name again? Ah, yes, Bibidi. Buu wondered if he was here, too; he would love to make him pay for caging him up for so long and depriving him of all his fun.

After a long, tense moment, Majin Buu had grown bored with these two as well, and wandered away, hopping and skipping. The whole time, Dabura observed Buu in growing condescension.

This thing-this Majin Buu- had not been what he'd expected when he'd first agreed to help Babidi in his mission to free him, and he knew this wasn't how Babidi had expected it either. He had been told that Majin Buu was a truly ferocious and heartless monster, more so than even himself. But what did they get for all their work in gathering up energy for the djinn? An obsese, infantile creature who just hums and skips. What a waste of this time all of this had been!

"Babidi-sama?" He spoke for the first time since the Majin's revival. "Are you sure this really the Majin Buu you've been telling me about?"

"I-I don't know, Dabura," Babidi answered honestly. "This is my first time seeing him in person. The only one here who has seen Majin Buu before would be Kaioushin over there." The two glanced over at the God, and Babidi's eyes lit up with hope when he caught his enemy's expression. "From the way Kaioushin is looking, this has to be Majin Buu after all! He was the one came out of the ball where Papa placed Buu."

"But, I'm starting to think there's been some kind of error," Dabura opined. He looked over to see what Majin Buu was doing now, and found him standing in the same spot he'd landed in a short while ago, his back turned to him as the Majin was apparently gazing off into the distance. The demon's lips curled in utter disgust, and he shook his head. "Just look at him, master. He looks no fiercer than a common housefly. We really have wasted our time here."

Babidi looked up at him with fury blazing in his eyes.

"Don't you dare say things like that, Dabura!" he snapped. "I refuse to believe that this has all been a waste of time. That really is Buu over there, I just know it! H-he's just acting that way because he's been imprisoned for so many years...And I'll go prove to you, right now."

Before Dabura could stop him, Babidi started resolutely marching over to where Majin Buu was. He would prove to Dabura that Buu was as dangerous as he kept saying he was, and he would do so by getting the Majin fully under his control. And then...order him to kill off the demon. That would show that idiotic disbeliever!

However, as Babidi had at last drew up behind his father's creation, some of his confidence started to wane just by stepping into Majin Buu's mere presence. He didn't care what Dabura said, this was the true Buu. This really was the terrible monster of destruction he had read so much about in his deceased father's notes, the energy he felt from him was just too great for him not to be. Babidi strongly believed that being incarcerated for long made Buu forget just who and what he was, and all he had to do was just remind him of that and everything would be fixed.

"Uh...Majin Buu?" Babidi called out hesitantly.

"Hm?" Majin Buu replied, looking down out the corner of his eye. He saw it was the short funny-looking one with the wrinkled skin.

Babidi gulped audibly when he saw he had Majin Buu's attention. Just the mere idea that someone as dangerous and powerful as he had heard Buu to be made the Madoshi want to run for the hills, but he kept himself stock-still where he was.

_*What's wrong with me? Why am I afraid of him?*_ Babidi scolded himself. *_I mean sure, he could kill me in an instant if he wanted to, but the whole point of this operation was that I am the master and he is the servant! He will serve me, not the the other way around!*_

As that thought firmly fixed itself in his mind, Babidi's courage bolstered enough that he could now get his point across.

"Er, hello, Majin Buu," he started again, speaking in a very friendly voice. "You don't really know me, but I am the son of the warlock who created you, Bibidi. You remember my Papa don't you?" Not even bothering to let Buu answer the question, Babidi went on. "See, Buu, I'm very well aware that it was my Papa who sealed you up inside that ball, which I thought was completely unfair. But you see, shortly after he sealed you away, he met his justly deserved demise for locking you up like that. So, you see Majin Buu, what I'm trying to say is...now that my father is dead, you can come serve me. You can call me, Master. How you like the sound of that, huh?"

For the first time since his release, an expression other than childlike amusement crossed Majin Buu's features: irritation. So acute was the expression, that Majin Buu's eyes had actually widened, revealing a pair of wide dark eyes as he glared sidelong down at Babidi. Babidi froze in place beneath the confident grin he wore on his face, his heart seizing up in his chest when he saw the annoyed look Majin Buu was shooting his way.

_*Oh, great. Now I've gone and irritated him!*_ Babidi said worriedly. _"He'll probably ready to kill me!*_

Babidi tried to keep his composure when Majin Buu suddenly turned around to fully face him. Although he was horrified by the fact that the demon could very well kill him right now, he was slightly assured that the dark look had seemed to have vanished from Buu's face, replaced by that innocent, childish expression of his. He tried to reinforce his attempt to keep his calm when Majin Buu had invaded his personal space by leaning forward, his head tilted as he studied the warlock like some ancient relic. Dabura saw this and scowled fiercely.

"What is that idiot up to?" he muttered suspiciously. If Majin Buu had decided to attack his master, he would make him wish that he had never been freed in the first place.

In the next instant, Buu pulled his head back away from Babidi a bit, brought his hands to his face...and then poked his tongue out at the wizard.

"Ahhhhh!" Babidi yelped in surprise.

The Majin burst in childly laughter at the look of terror that had crossed Babidi's face. Babidi brought a hand to his chest, breathing heavily as his heart hammered wildly.

"Babidi-sama!" Dabura quickly rushed over to check on the warlock. "Are you all right?"

"Hah...hah...hah...hah," was the only response Dabura got back as he was still trying to get his catch his breath. His was heart beating so fast, he afraid it would actually burst from his chest.

From afar, Gohan watched the scene in bemusement, while Kaioushin did something with a expression of someone who knew something very bad was about to happen.

"Look at him, he's like a large child," Gohan commented. "He thinks this is all just fun and games."

Kaioushin then turned to Gohan with a look of utter desperation in his eyes. "Gohan, let's get out of here. Now!"

Gohan regarded Kaioushin for a brief moment. "But why?" he asked finally.

"Why?" Kaioushin repeated, sounding a bit outraged. "Listen here, Gohan! We need to get out of here now while Majin Buu's attention is diverted! Because if not, and if he sets his sights on us, we're done for!"

Gohan frowned down at Kaioushin. It was a look born from the god's blatant lack of confidence in him than anything else. He was starting to become more than just a bit annoyed at the way Kaioushin kept saying how powerful Majin Buu was and that he wouldn't even be able to pose much of a threat to the djinn. It wasn't as if this Majin Buu guy was unbeatable. That had already been proven when he allowed himself to be sealed up by Babidi's father in the first place. Sure, Majin Buu may have seem that way all those years ago when he first ravaged the universe, but that was back in a different time. Now Majin Buu was going up against people who've been known for doing the impossible many times over.

"Gohan!" Kaioushin prompted when the half-Saiyajin hadn't said anything.

"Kaioushin-sama" Gohan answered calmly and respectfully, "I think we'll be just fine if we stay right here."

"What?" Kaioushin exclaimed, staring at Gohan as if he'd just finally been deprived of all his mind.

"Hey, I know that Majin Buu frightens you because of all the horrible things he did all those years ago, but frankly, I don't see why we should be afraid of him. His ki is strong, that's for sure, but I'm confident I can take him."

Kaioushin scowled vexingly at the teenager, who met his severe gaze unflinchingly. At that moment, the god wanted to scream at Gohan, probably would have beaten Gohan if he hadn't been more powerful than himself, just so he could make him understand that Majin Buu was not like any of the other adversaries he's faced in the past. But then it hit him with strong certainty that trying to persuade a Saiyajin, to run away from a fight was just a waste of his breath and time. Kaioushin then let out a half-defeated sigh.

"All right, Gohan. We'll stay here and fight" he said resignedly. Almost as afterthought, he added, "But I have a bad feeling we're going to regret doing so in the end."

_*Well, for our sakes, Kaioushin-sama, I sure hope not,*_ Gohan thought. With his ability to hear people's thoughts, Kaioushin had clearly heard what Gohan had just been thinking, but he didn't comment on it.

Dabura had finally taken his eyes off his master to shoot Buu a death glare. Majin Buu didn't see him, though, as he was still too busy laughing after nearly scaring Babidi to death. He then turned his gaze back to Babidi.

"Master Babidi, I think we should just get back inside our ship and leave this worthless planet," he suggested. "I still can't see how, but we've failed in our mission. I had thought Majin Buu had been revived, but it's just some stupid raw garbage without brains or power."

"Huh?" Majin Buu's laughter had abruptly stopped, when he heard Dabura speaking about him.

Dabura lifted his gaze back over to Majin Buu, and was more amused than anything else when he saw Majin Buu looking straight at him. He grinned at the djinn superiorly.

"Oh, do my words bother you?" Dabura taunted.

For the second time since his return, Buu's features hardened as he glared irately at the Demon King.

"Hm? Majin Buu?" Babidi said, blinking at the ultimate Majin curiously, hopefully, when he noticed the angry look Majin Buu was directing at Dabura. *_Maybe... there's hope for him, after all.*_

In a strange display, Majin Buu thrust his fists skyward, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled in annoyance. What had been so odd about it was that instead of exhaling through his mouth, he exhaled through the holes on his head, which came back out in the form of hot bursts of steam, rising so high over his head that they collided together and formed a miniature cloud, perfectly reflecting Buu's sullen mood. At once, all the steam had vanished back inside the holes, and even stranger, Buu's childly expression returned.

Gohan gasped and gawped at Majin Buu in stark astonishment. The Majin's ki had just increased sharply...and it disturbed the teenager.

Dabura was not impressed at all, chuckling in disdainful amusement.

"Was that foolish bravado of yours supposed to be a challenge to me, the great Dabura-sama?" he scoffed. "You truly are a fool."

Dabura found himself regretting his words, for in the next instant, Majin Buu's mien twisted into mischief that nearly bordered on malice. Then, moving at a speed that no one could ever imagine someone of Buu's large size moving at, he disappeared then reappeared directly in front of Dabura faster than even an eyeblink. Before the demonic fighter could react to this, two large fingers were rammed into his eyes, extracting a cry of pain. As Dabura staggered, blinded, around in front of Buu, still holding his eyes, Majin Buu was swinging his right arm like a propeller, all the while smiling hugely with excitement. It was just as he'd thought, the red one was a lot of fun! Then with a wickedly playful grin, he lashed out with a vicious punch. Dabura howled in pain as he was forcefully pushed backwards through the air by the harsh blow for several yards, before finally went ramming into the side of a cliff thunderously. When the smoke cleared, the cliff is now reduced into piles of rocks and lying underneath them, unconscious, was the King of the Demon Realm himself.

Gohan, Babidi, and Kaioushin could only goggle at Majin Buu, stunned by his shocking demonstration of incredible speed and power. Meanwhile, Majin Buu started hopping from one foot to another, doing a strange dance as he celebrated.

"M-magnificent..." Babidi said in awe.

* * *

Koji, Goten and Hoshi had stopped in midair once again and gazed off into the distance. Though it was similar to the reason they'd stopped a few miles back, it was a different power the three youngsters were sensing this time.

"You guys, what was that astounding ki I just felt?" Hoshi asked her fellow half-Saiyajin, her face slightly pale from feeling such an awful power.

"I don't know," Koji answered, his normal cocky expression replaced by bewilderment at the moment. "It was huge, whoever or whatever it was. It went straight through my stomach."

Goten nodded in agreement beside him. "Well, I know it wasn't Gohan, our Dads, or Hoshi's Mom this time. Maybe that was the Buu monster we were just feeling?"

"Dammit!" Koji exclaimed in response. "So, Majin Buu really is free...and we're floating here missing all the action! Let's get going!"

Not needing to be told twice, Hoshi and Goten swiftly flew after Koji as he took off in a rush.

* * *

Minutes earlier, Vegeta was more than just a little bit infuriated as he pulled himself free from out beneath the debris. Once again, people were trying to get in his way while he was trying to settle the score with his rival once and for all, and he getting very sick and tired of it. And he was not got to stand for it any longer! So, he waited for the source of his irritation- which surprisingly was Kakarott at the moment- to resurface like he did, so he could then rip into them.

Amara half-groaned, half-growled as she shoved the rocks off top of her and sat up, grumbling profanities in her native tongue as she brushed the dirt and rock fragments out of her spiky gold hair. *_Damn that android! I'll pay her back for that!*_ she vowed, while rising back up to her feet.

And then Vegeta hit her.

Completely caught off guard by the move, the Oujo could do nothing more than ride the fury of her brother's blow as it sent her briefly through the air before she landed on the rocky-terrain with a loud thud. More annoyed than hurt by it, Majin Amara quickly leaped back up to her feet, looking outraged as she glowered at Vegeta, who was regarding her with a very similar expression.

"_Kono yogore!" _the princess snarled. "How dare you hit me!"

"You'll get more of it you don't keep out of my damn fight!" Majin Vegeta snapped back.

Naturally, Amara bristled at her brother's threat and crouched. "I'd sure as hell love to see you try that when I _am_ looking!"

Vegeta visibly fumed with cold annoyance at the silent insult he'd just heard in Amara's voice, which had clearly suggested that he had to attack her when she was paying attention. He might've shown her otherwise, had it been for...

"Is this really the time for you two to be fighting each other?" taunted a very familiar, cold, feminine voice.

"What?" Amara said. As she turned around, Amara was just barely, barely, barely able to duck underneath a sharp roundhouse kick Juuhachi-gou swung at her head. Becoming a lot more alert after that, Amara dodged the second kick that was aimed at her a lot more easily, and soon the women had generated into another vicious exchange of punches and kicks.

Vegeta watched the two in irritation, before he finally remembered that he had a rival of his own to deal with. He swiftly whirled around, and was only able to fight back a little of the surprise that struck him when he found Goku standing a few yards away from him. Like Vegeta himself, the younger Saiyajin, in spite of all the rips and tears in his gi suit, still looked in good fighting condition. Goku's arms were crossed over his chest in a near Vegeta-esque pose as he regarded his archrival with a grin that was far from the innocent, goofy grins everyone were so familiar with seeing on his face.

"So, shall we continue, now?" Goku asked.

At the question, Vegeta's mouth quirked into a grimace. Then, bellowing out a war cry, he sprung at the other Saiyajin once again.

Chaos once again broke out over the area as the two pairs of enemies battled on intensely. Flurry after flurry of blows were traded once again, with a few ferocious ki blasts added in the mix. With thier respective fights being so close to one another, it was really only a matter of time before the women's fight intermixed with the men's again.

Juuhachi-gou jumped backwards to avoid a volley of ki blasts from the Oujo, when she suddenly bumped into a broad back. She swiftly looked over her shoulder to glare frostily at whoever it was. Her expression grew even colder when she discovered it was her mate's rival she'd bumped into, who was looking back at her over his shoulder with that expression that was sheepish and yet at the same time managed to keep its battle fierceness.

"HAAA!" Goku and Juuhachi-gou summarily snapped their attentions back onto their individual rivals, who were both charging at them at a breakneck speed.

Then, as if they were telepathic, the two quickly jumped in opposite directions to avoid their adversaries. Missing their enemies completely, the Saiyajin Prince and Princess ended up hitting each other as they savagely swung right crosses that had been intended for their foes, their fists plunging into each other's faces. The royal warriors were more angered and momentarily stunned from their misfire than actually hurting from it. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Vegeta instantly glared balefully over at his sister, who was shooing him a very similar look.

"Oh, how sad. They missed!" The two royal siblings swiftly looked around when they heard Juuhachi-gou's mocking, dry voice. They found her and Goku standing a few yards away from them, both of them grinning.

While Amara grimaced at her rival in cold fury, Vegeta was glowering at the blonde woman for a different reason. Unlike his sister, he was clearly noticing how the cyborg and his rival were standing side-by-side one another...and like any other man who saw their woman was hanging around another man- especially one he didn't particularly like- he didn't like it one bit. Despite the fact that he said that he didn't care about her or their son, the idea of Kakarott thinking he could be so familiar with his woman drove the prince into a jealous anger.

Amara swore when Vegeta's power suddenly flared around him, throwing up grit that got into her eyes. As she was busy cursing her relative, Vegeta was lunging at his rival again. Goku jumped backwards, while Juuhachi-gou leaped to the side to get out of the way as her lover viciously struck out at the younger Saiyajin with a wicked triple punch punch combination. Vegeta was so relentless in trying to beat the younger man more bloody than he already was, his intensity was too much for the hero, causing him to back further and further away.

"Why are you trying to run away from me, you jackass?" Vegeta snarled tauntingly. His rival dodged him as swung at him again, and he growled in exasperation. "Stand your ground like a man, and fight me, damn you!"

Goku's pride stung at the prince's biting insult as he jumped out the way an especially nasty ki bolt the prince had hurtled at him; it wasn't as if he was really trying to run away from Vegeta, because he ran away from no one while in battle. He just needed to put some distance between himself and the prince's ruthless flurry of attack so he could have room to retaliate.

"Now hold still, you peasant!" Vegeta barked, charging at Goku again, his fists clasped together.

Goku frowned at the advancing Prince. He wasn't going to 'run' from Vegeta, as he so contemptously termed it. He was going to stand his ground. However, as Vegeta was getting awfully close to him, something strange made his ki-senses twinge and a bone-chilling shiver run up and down his spine.

_*What on Earth is that?*_ Goku wondered, looking wide-eyed and slightly pale. Then, aloud, he shouted, "Vegeta! Stop!"

The younger Saiyajin's voice had been so urgent, that not even Majin Vegeta could ignore it, and drew up short just a hairsbreadth away from the younger Saiyajin. He glowered coldly at his rival.

"W-what in the world is that!" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking very alarmed as she stared out into the distance, her body trembling. "I've never felt a ki like before."

Vegeta watched his wife in puzzlement, wondering what had just gotten her so shaken up. As he glanced over at his sister, he discovered that she was looking in the same direction as Juuhachi-gou was, also looking equally highly disturbed.

"Vegeta, don't feel it?" Goku asked, immediately drawing Vegeta's gaze on him. "That extraordinary ki just then? There's no doubt about it. Majin Buu has been freed!"

While he continued to glare death at the other Saiyajin, Majin Vegeta still felt out into the world, wondering what Kakarott was talking about. And then he felt it, a new power level had abruptly appeared over in the area they had been in when Babidi had brought them back from the tournament.

"Majin Buu?" Juuhachi-gou repeated. "Who is that?"

Her response was a burst of scornful laughter from her husband. She and everyone else looked at him.

"Majin Buu, huh? What a complete letdown," he scoffed. "Here, I thought he had been this amazing guy, but with that level of power he really isn't anything special at all. I thought so...Kakarott, you and I have become too strong; by a wide margin. Since he is the supreme god of the universe, Kaioushin is supposed to be someone incredible, but did you really ever think that about him? It's quite the opposite really, it's him who has been bewildered. Majin Buu is fearsome from his point of view, but not from ours!"

_*N-no, Vegeta's wrong,* _Amara thought in grim shock. _*Majin Buu is every bit as terrible as Kaioushin warned us about! And we...and we help free such a monster into this world!* _The realization of that hit hard.

"No more waiting!" Vegeta bellowed told Goku. "We finish this, right now!"

"But Vegeta-" Goku tried to protest.

Doing no such thing as he said he would, Vegeta charged at Goku again. The younger Saiyajin swore and met the older Saiyajin head on again.

Juuhachi-gou and Amara stood there observing the two resume their fight. Then the two exchanged gazes.

* * *

Babidi was still gawping at the small mountain of rocks that were lying atop of Dabura. Never had he imagined that he would ever see the day when someone would manhandle the King of Evil with such brute force; normally Dabura was the on the giving end of such a beating. Though, as shocked as the warlock was, he wasn't all that shocked considering who it was that had treated the demon in such a cruel fashion in the first place. Then, suddenly struck by just how devilishly amusing it all was, Babidi lips curved into a nefarious smile.

"Heh. That's what that wretch, Dabura, gets for doubting the powers of the great Majin Buu!" he sneered. He then turned to Buu, who was still dancing in victory, staring up at him half-awed, half-annoyed. He was awed that this large, seemingly harmless creature can transform into a ruthless warrior in the blink of an eye, yet annoyed at the same time because he couldn't seem to get the Majin to obey him.

*_Well, I'll just have to do something about that, then. Because just like my Papa before me, I shall gain control over Majin Buu, and when I do...* _Babidi trailed off in his thoughts, grinning evilly as he began to envision an entire universe engulfed in chaos and darkness, and standing in the center of all the madness was him, and standing behind him was Majin Buu.

"See, Gohan! See what I've been trying to tell you all this time?" Kaioushin was saying. "That creature is not harmless, nor is he innocent. He is an unstoppable, killing machine!"

"I'm beginning to think that perhaps you're right..." Gohan answered quietly. Disbelief and shock could be see in his bright blue-green eyes as he stared at Majin Buu. A part of him hadn't really want to believe what Kaioushin said about Buu's strength, but after what he had just witnessed, and after that horrible power he had felt emanate from Buu when he attacked Demon King Dabura, he would have to be a fool to not listen to any of Kaioushin's warnings now.

"It's amazing," he said, mostly to himself. "While he was attacking Dabura...his ki rose explosively. His power is unbelievable!"

"It's as I've been telling you," said Kaioushin, who was scowling in Majin Buu's direction again. "Buu's more dangerous a threat than any other you've faced in the past." Shame and guilt than crossed the god's features. "Kibito-san, Kosumo-san, and myself had originally come to this world to prevent all of this from happening. But we failed...and now this whole planet is doomed!"

Gohan offered the god a smile. "You did the best that you could, Kaioushin-sama, you can't blame yourself for this." His expression then went hard. "This is all Babidi's fault! He took advantage of the fact that Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara still had evil in thier hearts and brought them to his side. And its because they were out there fighting, along with my Dad, that Buu's free now! And as for Majin Buu, I don't think he's _completely _unstoppable. No one in the universe is. That was proven when my friends and I were able to beat a Chaos God. So surely there must be a way to defeat Majin Buu as well. We just haven't looked for it yet."

"If only I had known there were humans down here who surpassed even my power..." Kaioushin said. "We could have used that other method..."

Gohan blinked at him curiously. "What do you mean?"

In the meantime, a grinning Babidi was approaching Majin Buu again. The demon was now standing with his back turned to the warlock again, fists resting on both his hips as he was still preening from his effortless victory over Dabura.

"That was an mighty impressive exhibition you just put on there, Majin Buu!" Babidi praised.

Majin Buu clearly heard him, but he just chose not to answer him.

Ignoring that, Babidi went on. "I also must thank you for getting rid of that Dabura, for me, Majin Buu. You gave him exactly what he deserved for doubting your incredible strength!"

Though Majin Buu still continued to ignore him, his chest did puff some with pride at Babidi's words. Just because he was a mass planetary killer didn't mean he wasn't susceptible to praises.

"So, Majin Buu, what I'm trying to say is...join me!" Babidi offered. "Join up with me! Together with my brilliant mind and your unlimited power, we can take over the whole universe without any fear of anyone stopping us! So, what do you say?"

A long moment went by, and Buu hadn't acknowledged his "offer". When another long moment went by and Buu didn't answer, Babidi scowled in annoyance, a low growl with a hint of danger to it issuing forth between his teeth.

"Hey, Majin Buu!" he snapped, affronted. "Are you going to answer me or not?"

Babidi got a response all right. Not anticipating it like last time, Majin Buu abruptly swiveled around and gave him another _Be-da_. Babidi screamed in surprise and fright, falling over on his backside after once again getting caught off guard by the Majin's silliness.

Majin Buu held his gut as he then shrieked with merry laughter, feeling pleased with himself for getting Babidi with the same trick again. Gohan and Kaioushin had saw the whole thing as it had interrupted their conversation, both looking slightly bewildered.

"Well, I guess its safe to say that at least Babidi hasn't obviously gained controlled over Majin Buu yet," Gohan commented. He frowned as he then quietly added, "But is that a good thing...or a bad thing?"

"Babidi's a fool, just like his father was," Kaioushin said. "Bibidi couldn't control Buu, and neither will he."

When the rush of adrenaline had finally wore off, and he'd finally managed to get both his breathing and the speed of his heart rate back under control, Babidi burned with anger. He shot Buu a razor-sharp knifelike look that loudly demanded, "How dare you treat me like this? Do you know who I am? I am Madoshi Babidi!" At that moment, the warlock didn't care who Majin Buu was and what he was capable of. Someone who was supposed to be his slave had just insulted and disrespected him, and he was not going to stand for it. Not like he did with Raiden!

"Listen here, Majin Buu!" Babidi barked as he rose back up to his feet. "Do that again and I'll personally place you back into the ball where I found you!"

When Majin Buu heard him that time, the demon instantly stopped laughing. His eyes opening wide, something like fear could actually been seen in them at the threat of being locked up inside that ball again. Babidi smiled in cold satisfaction when he saw he'd finally gotten the demon's complete attention.

_*Hm. So even the great Majin Buu fears something in this universe,*_ he discovered gleefully_. "Now that I know that, I'll always have a way to keep him under my control."_

Aloud he said, "So, I've finally managed to pierce through that peanut-sized brain of yours. Will you be a good obedient servant to me? Or do you really want to be sealed away for another million years or so?"

One look at Majin Buu could tell anyone that was he was far from what one would call a genius. However, he was bright enough to realize when he was trapped in a situation that seemed impossible to get out of. With no other choice, he did the only thing anyone would have done in his predicament.

"Um, yes Babidi-sama! Babidi-sama is new Master now!" Majin Buu said quickly, bowing to the Madoshi with the utmost reverence. Almost worshipfully, like one would do a god.

At that moment, Babidi felt like one as he flung his head back and barked with triumphant, evil laughter. He had done it! He had finally gotten Majin Buu under his complete control! He truly was the master of the universe now! Babidi's eyes suddenly tracked over towards Kaioushin and Gohan. He grinned in evil merriment when he saw the two staring at him and his new slave in dread.

"Oh, no!" Gohan gasped. "He's done it...He's really gotten Majin Buu on his side!"

Beside him, Kaioushin had blanched again, terribly frightened by the horrible implications of the union between Babidi and Majin Buu.

"Attention, you two!" Babidi bellowed, stabbing a finger in the direction of his enemies, as he and Majin Buu spun around as one to fully face them. "I would like for you to meet my brand new servant...Majin Buu! For your first order, Buu, kill those two!"

At the command, Majin Buu's childish expression left his face again, and was once more replaced by something so malicious that it made him look almost demonic as he grinned fiendishly at Gohan and Kaioushin.

"Yes, Babidi-sama!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	31. The Death of Gohan?

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z and its characters are all the property of Akira Toriyama and other people I can't really name right now. I'm just borrowing them for a while, but I promise I'll return them back as good as new when I'm done. However, I do own several original characters that will be showing up in this story.**

**Chapter Thirty-One: The Death of Gohan?**

* * *

A bitter wind blew through the area, increasing the pitch in Babidi's demented laughter as it swept across the hard-packed terrain, whipping up a miniature cloud of dust and rock fragments between Babidi, Buu, Kaioushin, and Gohan. The warlock was thoroughly enjoying himself a lot more than he had since he first arrived on Earth. And why shouldn't he be? He finally had complete control over the most powerful being in the whole known universe, and he was going to have him destroy the very same person who killed his father, just like his new servant had done his enemy's people so long ago.

"All right, Majin Buu!" Babidi barked, grinning fiendishly as he stabbed a finger in the direction of Gohan and Kaioushin. "Go over there and kill those two like the rats they are! I want you to make them suffer like they've never have before! Especially Kaioushin!"

"OK!" Majin Buu said agreeably; he may not like the idea of having to be someone else's servant, but when he was allowed to kill someone, he didn't really mind all that much.

Kaioushin and Gohan instantly stood on guard as Majin Buu stepped forward, smiling that huge smile of his. Not too long ago, Gohan had mistaken that smile for something born out of childlike naivety, but now he saw that he'd been the naive one to not have seen what truly laid behind the Majin's stealthy simper in the first place. It was something so malevolent that none of their previous foes could compare. And to make matters worse, with every second that was passing by, Buu's power level kept slowly but surely rising continuously.

_*Just how powerful is this guy really is?* _Gohan wondered, grimacing. The half-Saiyajin wasn't liking this picture one bit. Majin Buu had already proven himself to be incredibly strong when he took down Dabura earlier without any effort. And if Majin Buu's power kept steadily growing like it was...Gohan's throat grew tight at the dreadful possibilities that came from that thought.

For the first time in a long while, Gohan truly knew he was already beaten in a fight without even trying to give a try first; he didn't think even succumbing to that rage that brought forth his potent hidden powers- the same powers he always tried to keep locked up inside him in fears of hurting the people he cares about- would be enough to help him against Majin Buu. For the first time, he wasn't completely sure if even his father would be able to save the day.

"Now, then. Which one Buu kills first?" Majin Buu said, pointing at his two adversaries.

While Kaioushin grew even paler at Buu's declaration, Gohan glowered defiantly at the demon.

_*What am I going to do?* _Gohan asked himself. _*I can't fight Majin Buu on my own. My power combined with Kaioushin-sama's probably wouldn't even be enough. I guess the only option there is for us would be to...run away.*_

While Gohan's Human nature didn't really have a problem with a strategic retreat, his Saiyajin nature still saw it as running away and strongly objected to the idea of him trying to run away from a fight. But what other choice was there for him to make? Stay to fight Majin Buu and quite possibly get himself killed in the process? Or leave now and then return after a sound plan had been made to defeat the evil djinn? Gohan growled frustratedly in the back of his throat like he always did whenever he got conflicted about something. Which option should he choose?

"Gohan-san..." Kaioushin began, turning towards the teenager with urgency in both his face and his voice. "It's time for us to leave here, right now!"

Gohan paused for a moment. Then he looked back to Kaioushin and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you, Gohan," Kaioushin said gratefully. To himself, as he looked back over at Majin Buu, he added, *_And once we're far enough, we're going back to my home world where the possible key to Buu's destruction lays.*_

Both Majin Buu and Babidi had been completely caught by surprise when Gohan suddenly grabbed ahold of Kaioushin's arm and pulled him along after him as he flew off at high speed.

"Hn?" Buu said, confused, as he shielded his eyes from the sun watched the purple man and the pale boy fleeing from the area. He wondered where they were heading off to; didn't they want to play with him anymore?

Babidi gawked in shock at his retreating enemies. Then he glared at Majin Buu.

"Hey, Majin Buu! Don't just stand there like a brainless dimwit!" he snapped, clenching his scrawny fists. "I want you to go after them, and do it right this instant!"

At the annoyance Babidi had just spoken to him with, Majin Buu's countenance hardened slightly as he looked around at his 'master'. Babidi tried his hardest not to quail under the demon's gaze; how it would look for him, the master, to be flinching from someone who's supposed to be his servant? The breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding in came out in a sigh of relief, when that huge smile abruptly returned to Buu's face and he spun back around in the direction Kaioushin and his cohort had flew off in. The Majin then poised himself in a readying position to take off into the air.

_*Whew! That was close!*_ Babidi thought. *_For a second there, I thought he might try to revolt against me! Of course, if he had, then I would have sealed him up again!*_ The warlock grinned at that last thought, feeling utterly smug in the fact that as long as Majin Buu had his fear of being placed back inside that egg, he would always be in control over Majin Buu.

Suddenly, Majin Buu took off into the sky like a speeding bullet, leaving a long vapor trail behind him. The backwash of his sudden departure had nearly blown Babidi right out of his clothes (a horrible prospect no one wanted to see). When the warlock had recovered and straightened his clothes and cape on him, he rose into the air, grinning as he watched his servant rapidly advance on his enemies.

"What a creature!" he said in awe. "My Papa truly was a genius!" Not wanting to miss any of the action, Babidi flew after them.

The air currents rushed past Gohan and Kaioushin hard enough to bring tears to their eyes, but neither of them didn't dare slow down in their flight. Suddenly, the half-Saiyajin's hearing picked up the strange sound of someone humming behind him and Kaioushin. Looking around, the teenager gasped and his heart seized in his chest when he saw Majin Buu following close behind him and Kaioushin, matching his speed with perfect meticulousness.

"Damn it! I thought I was much faster than this!" Gohan said, dismayed. "Buu's catching up to us!"

Hearing him, Kaioushin risked a glance over his shoulder and immediately wished he hadn't done so.

"Come on, Kaioushin-sama. Let's speed things up!" Gohan shouted.

Gohan quickened his pace. The maneuver helped a great deal in putting some distance between themselves and Majin Buu...at least momentarily.

Buu had allowed the two to get a lot further away from him, before he suddenly grinned wickedly and disappeared. He reappeared in the sky right in front of Gohan and Kaioushin, effectively blocking them off and forcing them to stop dead in their tracks. Gohan and Kaioushin blanched as they gaped at the Majin in shock.

Majin Buu's childlike expression then transmuted into malevolence as he grinned down at his quarry.

"I kill you first!" He then struck out in an unexpected burst of speed, catching Gohan hard in the face with a right cross. The blow knocked the teenager out of the air, plummeting jarringly into the ground. Gohan twitched a little bit inside the crater he now lay in, and then stopped moving all together as he slipped into a state of semi-consciousness.

"Gohan-san!" Kaioushin wailed, looking horrified as he stared down at the motionless teenager. He then lifted his gaze back onto Majin Buu, who was floating in front of him wearing a big triumphant smile on his face, his arms akimbo.

Kaioushin's whole body was numbed with fear, making it hard for him to think straight as he stared into the pudgy face of the monster he'd crossed paths with millions of years ago. Ever since that dreadful day, Kaioushin had started having nightmares of coming face to face with the destroyer of his people again one of these days. He had hoped, prayed, that it wouldn't come to be, but now that nightmarish dream had become a nightmarish reality. Like all those years ago, he was once again on his own and at the mercy of Majin Buu, who didn't even know the meaning of the word. He feared he wouldn't be saved this time.

Majin Buu started to float closer towards him, reaching out at him with his massive hand. Then, as the Majin's hand came a hairsbreadth of the god, Kaioushin reflexively moved further backwards and instinctively let loose with a surprise attack.

"KI AIGAN!" Kaioushin shouted, his eyes flashing blue as he cupped his hands out in front of him, corresponding to the enery attack he fired at Majin Buu. The fat demon cried out- in surprise or pain, no one could really tell- as the energy wave washed over him aggressively, nearly causing him to double over backwards as he was pushed away from his prey but only a scant few inches.

"Majin Buu, no!" Babidi wailed in dismay after witnessing what happened to his fearsome slave. He became even more dismayed when he noticed how listlessly and lifelessly Buu was floating in the sky. *_No! Buu's not hurt, is he? He just can't be! No one is supposed to be able to defeat the ominpotent Majin Buu! It just can't be!*_

In front of Majin Buu, Kaioushin was slowly lowering his hands while keeping his eyes firmly fixed on him. He already knew that his attack hadn't done any considerable harm to Majin Buu in the least. In fact, he hadn't even intended to attack Majin Buu in the first place, because he knew doing so would be just him wasting his energy with the huge power gap between the two of them. That attack had been born out of his innate reflex to keep the evil Majin from killing him. But maybe this would give him the chance he need to get to Gohan and teleport them to his planet. He hadn't got the chance to tell the half-Saiyajin, but when he had mentioned there being some way to stop Majin Buu, he had suddenly remembered a strong possibility of there being a way to defeat Buu for good. But first they needed to get back to his planet before he could even attempt to try the idea.

Kaioushin had attempted to go down where Gohan was, however, he hadn't moved fast enough. Before he could even go anywhere, Majin Buu had started to gradually turn himself back upright. When he was standing vertical again, it was revealed that the demon had been left completely unscathed by Kaioushin's attack; it didn't even wipe that big smile off the creature's face. Kaioushin blanched. Babidi grinned in a mixture of relief and glee.

Before Kaioushin could realize what was about to happen, the Buu's eyes flashed a baleful orange. Kaioushin screamed in pain as he was struck with his own attack, which Buu had managed to magnify its effect tenfold, sent hurtling rearward. After flipping over a few times, Kaioushin was finally able to regain his equilibrium and use his momentum to backflip himself over and stop completely; he grimaced over at Majin Buu in painful anger, his body aching. Now he knew how Buu and everyone else had felt when he used that very attack on them. It had been as if his very body was about to be torn apart.

_*This is bad!*_ Kaioushin thought. _*Buu wasn't even trying that time, and already I'm hurting. The next attack might actually kill me!*_

Both Majin Buu and Babidi were laughing at the god's plight. While Babidi was laughing from finally getting his vengeance on Kaioushin, Majin Buu was laughing because he thought the purple man had looked extremely very funny all covered in bruises.

Chuckling beside his pet creature, Babidi said, "You know, on second thought, Majin Buu, I don't want to you kill Kaioushin right away. No, I want you to play with him just a little while longer before killing him off!"

Buu heard this and got excited, however Kaioushin didn't share his enthusiasm as he begin backing away, knowing he wouldn't be getting out of this alive.

Just as Buu had nearly made it to the god, a familiar figure came flying out of nowhere and delivered a flying kick to the side of Buu's face. Babidi watched in horror as the blow sent Buu cartwheeling away.

Looking up, Kaioushin thought he'd never be as happy to see Gohan as he was now. With a small smile, the teen extended out his hand to help the god back up to his feet. As soon as he did, they both looked around when they suddenly heard Babidi let out a noise of joy. Both Gohan and Kaioushin were stunned to see that Buu had stopped in place, but was grinning wickedly back at the two of them.

"We need to get out of here, NOW!" Gohan said urgently.

Not wasting any more time, Gohan roughly grabbed Kaioushin's arm and the two tried to flee once again.

"Hey! They're trying to get away again!" Babidi gripped. "Don't just stand there, Majin Buu! Go after them now!"

Gohan held nothing back as he raced away with Kaioushin once more, putting all himself into his speed. He couldn't afford to let Majin Buu catch up them to this time. They will not be so lucky if-

Gohan stopped abruptly with Kaioushin again. Just like before, their passage had been blocked off by Majin Buu, who was grinning utterly manically at the two.

Not having any of choice, Gohan charged at Buu, hoping to at least give Kaioushin a chance to get away.

"Pest! Go away!" Majin Buu bellowed. Stretching his hands forward, he let loose with a large ki blast. Gohan's eyes could only widen, before the massive energy attack slammed into him aggressively and sent him sailing far away.

"Gohan-san! No!" Kaioushin cried in dismay. Thinking quickly, Kaioushin unleashed another Ki Agian, and Buu's attack burst in a flash of bright light. Meanwhile, Gohan went plummeting out of the sky in a nearby forest. Kaioushin sighed a bit in relief.

_*No, nothing just can't happen to him!* _he said to himself. *_I may know of a way to destroy Majin Buu, but I need Gohan's help to do it. Gohan, please be alive!*_

However, Kaioushin only-too quickly remembered that he'd better worry more about himself than Gohan at the moment, as he slowly turned around to stare up at Majin Buu. Buu stared back down at him, still grinning fiendishly at the god.

"Now, you die next!" Buu said, his eyes flashing a dark orange.

* * *

Majinzou Juuhachi-gou and Majin Amara continued to hold each other's gaze intensely, completely ignoring the sounds of the battle happening in the background. Suddenly, the two broke eye contact and looked around in matching consternation.

"I felt that horrible ki again," Juuhachi-gou said bleakly.

"T-that bastard!" Amara said falteringly. "Just how strong is he?"

Even as she said that aloud, that wasn't the only thing she had sensed. She had felt Gohan's ki, and he was severely injured. So much in fact, Amara wondered for a fleeting moment if he was about to-

Juuhachi-gou turned to the Saiyajin Princess. "Amara..."

Amara looked towards her rival.

"I still don't know what's going on here, but what I do know is that this Majin Buu person is incredibly dangerous. I want to settle things between us as badly as you do, however...We shouldn't be fighting at a time like this."

Amara fumed. "What the hell are you saying! I've waited seven long years for this day to-"

FLASH!

The Demon Princess broke off in her words, frozen in place as she just felt Buu's ki spike again. Juuhachi-gou caught the expression on her face.

"Do you see now?" she asked.

Amara was silent for a long moment, weighing in the importance of her issue with Juuhachi-gou against the threat that Majin Buu currently presented in her mind. Then she sighed in grudging resignation.

"All right, Jinzouningen, I get your point," Amara said. She scowled. "But this is too much like our problem with Kaosu for my taste. No, this is far worse."

The two looked around at the same time, as they heard the battle between Goku and Majin Vegeta intensifying again.

"We have to stop them," Juuhachi-gou said.

Vegeta smiled viciously as he glided away from his rival, with his hands cupped out in front of his chest. He shouted, "FINAL FLASH!"

Goku's mouth formed into a lopsided smile, as he nimbly sidestepped the massive energy beam easily. He then rushed forward at Vegeta, his right hand curled into a fist as he was about to go for a punch, but the Prince of Saiyajin anticipated this. He bypassed the lowborn warrior as soon as he swung at him, and swiftly and cruelly counteracted, ramming his knee into his rival's midriff. As Goku gasped for air, Vegeta sent him toppling over with an double sledge shot to his spine.

Reaching down suddenly, he grabbed a handful of Goku's gi shirtfront and lifted him off the ground and into the air. Vegeta balled up right fist to punch Goku, when that aberrant ki he'd felt earlier made pricked at his senses. Even though it had distracted him briefly, it had still been enough for Goku, as he surprised the prince by firing a ki bolt right in his face. It had been attacked used more for blinding the prince than harming him, which worked effectively, as Vegeta howled in pain and unintentionally released Goku as he went flying backwards, yet the Saiyajin Prince managed to recover his bearings back and landed on his feet. Both warriors were breathing heavily as they glowered at one another.

"Vegeta, this has gone on long enough, we must stop so we can fight Majin Buu!" Goku said solemnly. "I felt him again just then, and I know you did, too, because it made you lose your concentration for a moment." .

"Shizuka na, Kakarott!" Vegeta snapped. "This fight won't end until one of us wins. And why should I give a damn about this Majin Buu? He has nothing to do with our fight!"

"But Vegeta, this Majin Buu could kill everyone on this planet!" Goku protested. "Including Juuhachi-gou and Koji!"

Something about those words spark a fuse in the Saiyajin Prince as he launched himself at the other warrior. "URUSAI!" he bellowed angrily shoved his fist hard into Goku's jaw. "You still don't get it, do you? Nothing else matters to me. Nothing else except getting my chance to fight you again really matters. I've been waiting for When Babidi turned me the way I was before, he ridded me of such foolish emotions. I could care less to what happens to them!"

Vegeta's expression turned into bewilderment when he noticed something about his words seemed to anger the lower-class warrior, as his expression transmuted into fury. Vegeta made a surprise 'oomphf' sound when his rival suddenly lunged forth and headbutted him in the face.

"Do YOU honestly think I believe that!" Goku shouted, each pronunciation followed up with two powerful punches that would have easily killed off a normal human, and fortunate for Vegeta he wasn't normal. "You can deny it all you want Vegeta, but I know you care about them. Back when we were at the tournament, I saw you watching them with pride while they were fighting in their matches! No one else saw it, but I did!"

Vegeta growled fiercely at the other Saiyajin for dare saying such things to him. However, as he noticed the blood trickling down the side of his mouth and he brought the back of one his gloved hands to wipe it off, he paused. His expression becoming clouded as he regarded his rival, who was still scowling back at him fiercely. A long, silent moment passed between the two men as they stared at one another, their wills silently clashing. Then, Majin Vegeta finished wiping the blood off his face and then turned to face Goku fully again, however, something was noticeably different about him. While there had just been an air of near insane fury circling him just a few moments ago, he now had the air of one who's finally yielded to something they didn't really want to do.

"All right, Kakarott," Vegeta said resignedly. "I can clearly see now that as long as you are concerning yourself over this Majin Buu, that you're not going to put your full focus into our fight, and you know I want you at your absolute best when I defeat you. So...we can postpone our fight for now to go take care of Majin Buu."

Goku stared at the prince in astonishment. "What? You really mean it, Vegeta?"

Vegeta nodded.

Goku laughed jubilantly. "All right! Thanks a lot, Vegeta! I promise we can restart our fight just as soon as we're done with Majin Buu."

Though Vegeta gave him no response, his golden brows furrowed just a little bit deeper as he scowled about something.

Momently, both Amara and Juuhachi-gou touched down behind the two. Vegeta and Goku immediately turned around to face them.

"So you two realize the seriousness of this situation, too?" Amara asked.

Goku nodded. "Yea. Majin Buu is no ordinary guy, after all. We've completely underestimated him, so we must work together to stop him quick!"

As he spoke, Goku or the women noticed when Vegeta's expression briefly clouded, before clearing up again. And behind his usual hard expression, now lay a sudden decisiveness.

"Kakarott, do you have any senzou beans?" he surprisingly queried. "We're going to need them."

"You're right, Vegeta," Goku agreed. "I have it inside my sash, let me get it."

As Goku turned around to retrieve the bag of senzou beans, he never noticed Vegeta clasping his hands together and raising them over his head.

With an excited cry, the younger Saiyajin finally wretched the bag free from it's confinement. Goku had reached inside the bag to pull out some senzu beans...

...then Vegeta struck him hard in the back of his head and knocked him out cold.

* * *

It was peaceful and quiet in the forest, just as it always was. This forest was a splendid place, with it's floor covered in thick, rich green grass, decorated here and there by various hodgepodge of beautiful flowers and plants.

But on this day, they had an unexpected guest.

Even now some of the woodland creatures were warily peaking around bushes, trying to get a look at the strange creature that had appeared in their forest so abruptly. It was very odd looking, with its pale skin and black hair, and its strange looking fur-less hide with rips and tears decorating it here and there.

Normally, when the animals saw something as strange as the creature before them, they quickly ran away, but this one wasn't doing anything except lying on the ground, deathly still. Seeing that they were in no harm, some of the animals started to wander over to their guest to inspect him. Some nudged him with their cold noses and some licked his face. But even then Son Gohan didn't awake...

* * *

Amara and Juuhachi-gou stared down at Goku's motionless and battered form (now back in his normal state after getting knocked out), and then over at Vegeta in equal surprise.

"Even Kakarott is helpless when he's caught off guard," Majin Vegeta muttered to himself.

"Now what did you do that for?" Amara asked inquisitively.

"Because, this is my fight!" Vegeta retorted, while his eyes were locked firmly on his fallen rival. "Buu is my responsibility. Especially after what happened seven years ago with Cell."

While Amara wouldn't know of what Vegeta meant, beside her, Juuhachi-gou had and was staring at Vegeta in silent amazement. For a second there, he'd almost sounded guilty. Then, Vegeta abruptly locked gazes with her. Even if it had happened in the measure of a heartbeat, Juuhachi-gou had seen an actual look of _regret _in his eyes.

Looking away from her quickly, Vegeta walked over toward the unconscious Goku. Kneeling down, he scooped up the small sack of senzou resting in his limp hand, and headed back over towards the women. After getting out one for himself, he gave one to Amara, then tried to give his mate one. Juuhachi-gou looked down at the bean briefly. She looked back up at Vegeta with a frown.

"Keep it. I don't need a senzou bean," she told him.

Vegeta immediately realized that was true. Despite that she was looking no better than either of them after their gruelling fights, she still looked very energized to fight.

"Very well, then," he told her.

The Saiyajin Prince and Princess then both ate their respective beans. Instantaneously, new energy flowed through them both, dulling any pain they'd been feeling after their fights.

After being completely revitalized, Vegeta gazed back at his fallen rival, his expression uncharacteristically deep. What he hadn't been saying aloud, was that the reason he knocked his rival out in the first place was because after all the trouble he'd caused seven years ago, when he let Cell absorbed Juuhachi-gou and become Perfect, that it should a least be him to fight the latest threat.

_*Kakarott, when you wake up, I won't guarantee that I'll still be here_,* he said silently._ *But be assured, Buu will be in Hell when you do, even if I'm taken along with him. And oh, I guess we'll have to finish our fight some other time.*_

With that said, Majin Vegeta walked away and made his way over toward the tunnel that led to last and final stage of the ship. His wife and sister almost immediately joined him.

"So, I guess we just blast our way through here?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

Vegeta merely nodded.

As they were staring down at the tunnel, a strange expression of shock crossed Amara's face, then briefly turned into anger before turning back into shock.

"Vegeta? Do you feel that?" she said, aghast

"Feel what?" Juuhachi-gou inquired. Looking from one Saiyajin to another, her curiosity grew even more when she saw them both looking equally...mournful? "What's gotten into you two?"

"It's Gohan," Amara began direly, "...he's really..."

"He's dead," Vegeta finished for her.

Juuhachi-gou gasped, her eyes widening as her countenance instantly melted into apallment. She couldn't believe it. The same boy who'd managed to defeat Cell and Kaosu...the same boy who was like a big brother to her and Vegeta's only son was now...dead. And if Gohan couldn't beat this Majin Buu, then how can anyone else would be able to stop him?

* * *

Madoshi Babidi thought he was listening to sweetest music ever produced in the entire universe every time Kaioushin cried out in pain. He had taken vindictive pleasure in watching the god as he was viciously pummelled by the huge brute, Majin Buu. The demon laughed with wicked joy all the while, as he abused Kaioushin's face with a violent chain of lefts and rights. When Gohan had been taken out of the picture again, Kaioushin had been once again left with no other choice but to try and fight Majin Buu off. But just as he knew it would, his efforts had been in vain. It didn't take very long at all for the Majin to get the upperhand, and now he was paying dearly for trying to oppose both Buu and Babidi.

Buu abruptly got off Kaioushin, but he was far from done with his torturing of the god. While still wearing that deadly, yet childly smile, he lifted up the battered god with one large hand. He stared at him for a moment, before he swung his head forward and headbutted Kaioushin in the face. Kaioushin went sailing briefly through the air before he landed a few yards away with a painful looking landing.

Babidi cackled in mad triumph. "Good job, Majin Buu! You're really giving it to that bastard Kaioushin, just like I knew you would."

"Ha ha!" Buu enthused in victory.

Babidi's superior expression turned into a horrible sneer, as he watched his mortal enemy try to rise to his feet again. But due to the pain and blood loss, Kaioushin only collapsed to the ground again.

"Oh, how vailant. He's still trying to get up," the warlock said contemptuously. Feeling quite arrogant now that his rival wasn't in the best of condition, he started to advance on the weakened god. "Kaioushin, you fool! Why don't you stay down like the dog you are?" he punctuated his question with a sharp kick to Kaioushin's side, extracting a pained moan from him. "It's over, do you hear me? I've won, you've lost! I have freed Majin Buu from his imprisonment just as I've told you would all these years ago, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

With painful effort, Kaioushin slowly lifted his head to look up at Babidi, his eyes burning with fury underneath all the cuts and bruises.

"I'll...kill you!" the god hissed.

Babidi blinked at Kaioushin for a moment. Then he flung his head back and cried with scornful laughter.

"You, kill me?" he asked incredulously. "You must be joking! Look around, Kaioushin- all of your allies are gone, and some have even joined my side! You've lost this fight, and now you're the one who's about to be killed. Isn't that right, Buu?" On that question, he looked over his shoulder toward his servant where he found him standing a few feet behind him, rubbing his stomach with a thoughtful expression.

"I'm hungry!" the Majin exclaimed.

"Hungry, you say?" Babidi repeated. A devilish look crossed his features again, as a most horrible idea came to his mind. "Hey, Majin Buu? What about eating Kaioushin?"

"Hm?" Buu looked from Babidi down to the battered. He smiled hugely and licked his lips. "Yeah! Gonna eat 'im!"

Babidi laughed at the idea. "Yes, that's right Majin Buu. Eat him up! Swallow him, whole! Ahahahaha, I love it!"

Now that he'd been given the say so, Majin Buu started to advance on the fallen god. But before he could reach him all the way, out of nowhere, a spear came soaring through the air and pierced straight through Buu's stomach. While Buu just stared down at the spear sticking out of his stomach, Babidi gasped in horror.

"Whuh...what! Where'd that come from?" the warlock shouted, aghast

"I did it!" answered a voice.

Immediately recognizing the voice, Babidi was shocked as he turned around and saw the King of Demons making his way straight towards him. Due to Buu's attack on him earlier, he was limping, but didn't look down for the count just yet.

"D-dabura?" he stuttered the name out. "But I thought you were dead?"

"No, I'm not dead at all," Dabura told him, as he drew to a stop a short distance away from him, Buu, and the beaten Kaioushin. With blazing anger in his eyes, he glowered over at Majin Buu. "Thought you got rid of me, didn't you? Well, now I'm about to show exactly who you're messing with you mindless bastard!"

Insulted, Majin Buu glared angrily at Dabura. Then his expression turned malicious. And right before Dabura's eyes, he pulled the spear out of his stomach, and the hole left behind was instantly sealed back up. Dabura gasped in shock, while Babidi laughed in exultation at this.

"Impossible!" Dabura said in disbelief.

"Hahahaha! No one can kill, Majin Buu!" Babidi boasted.

"Changed mind!" Buu said, grinning fiendly. "I'm gonna eat you now!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	32. The Majin's Feast

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of their are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Two: The Majin's Feast**

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

Moments later. "Are we almost there yet?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

Both Koji and Hoshi stopped suddenly, which forced Goten to stop as well. Koji and Hoshi glared reproachfully at Goten.

"Goten! Aren't you the oldest among us?" Koji asked.

"Er, yeah," Goten replied, looking puzzled.

"Then act like it and stop whining!"

"But I can't help it!" Goten replied, pouting. "I wanna see the Majin real bad!"

"We all want to," Hoshi reminded him. "But acting like a baby is not going to get us there any faster!"

"I'm not a baby!"

"Hey, you know what? I think we're actually pretty close to where Papa and the others might be," Koji said suddenly. "I can sense their ki closeby up ahead."

Goten and Hoshi felt out for their family and the others. Both half-Saiyajin looked puzzled and concerned.

"That's funny, I can sense Mama, but there's different about her ki," Hoshi said, her brows furrowed together. "Also, I can't sense Papa at all."

"And I can't sense big brother," Goten added, looking just as befuddled, "Or my Papa and Piccolo-san."

"Huh?" Koji said, looking back at the two in surprised confusion. To be honest, he was sensing something weird as well. When he felt his father's ki a moment ago, it didn't feel the same way it did back before he left the tournament. But now that it was brought to his attention, he too couldn't sense Gohan, Piccolo, or Kuririn. He frowned. Then he looked up to see the worried expressions on Hoshi's and Goten's face. "Oi, maybe we can't see them because they're masking their ki?"

His attempt to alleviate their worries had done the trick, as both Hoshi and Goten smiled and nodded him at him in agreement.

"You're right," Hoshi agreed. "They must be suppressing their ki from the enemy."

"Koji-kun is so smart," Goten commended.

Moments later, the three were continuing the the course they had been charting. Some time later, land rose up into the view out of the ocean in front of the three youngsters. Koji was the first one to notice it.

"Hey, you guys, I think we're here!" he announced.

Both Goten and Hoshi broke out into huge smiles when they, too, noticed the island. The three then glanced excitedly at each other.

"_Yosh_! We're finally going to see the Majin!" they chorused in exuberance.

Now that they'd finally reached their destination, the young trio naturally made a beeline toward the island. As they alighted on a cliff, the kids had come to an unconscious agreement to revert back to their normal forms as they simultaneously powered-down.

"So, where do you think everybody is?" Goten asked, shading his eyes as he looked this way and that for the whereabouts of his father, brother, and all the rest of the Senshi.

"Hm," Hoshi said as she suddenly closed her eyes in concentration. She reached out into the world with her ki-senses, searching for the power levels of her parents. A moment later, she reopened her eyes and as she pointed toward the east, she said, "Hey, I can feel my Kaasan in that direction you guys. I can also feel your Papa over as well, Koji."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Koji asked, grinning wildly. "Let's go join 'em!"

"I wonder if Oniisan and Tousan are with them?" Goten wondered, looking uncharacteristically serious as he stared off in the direction Hoshi had just indicated.

"They're probably over there fighting that Majin Buu guy?" Hoshi suggested. Upon hearing that, Goten was quickly pulled out of his somber thoughts and looked bright-eyed at the girl.

"Hey, they probably need our help!" he said optimistically. "Let's go down there and give them a hand!"

Koji and Hoshi nodded in agreement.

The three had started to take off to go join their family, when abruptly, Koji noticed some movement down below out the corner of his eyes.

"Hey, stop you guys!" he called to Hoshi and Goten as they were beginning to lift off the ground.

"What's wrong, Koji?" Hoshi asked.

"Hey, I think there's someone down there," he answered, pointing his thumb over his shoulder down below the cliff they were on.

Instantly curious as to who could be down below, Hoshi and Goten touched back down on the cliff, and the two of them joined Koji as he moved closer to the edge to get a better look. True to his word, there were some people down below, but because of how far up they were none of the half-Saiyajin could make out exactly who the people were.

"Hey, I can't see anything!" Goten complained.

"Me, neither," Hoshi agreed.

"Oi, lets all of us move down lower to get a better look," Koji suggested. "But let's do it like the secret agents we watch on television."

"Yeah!" Goten and Hoshi agreed excitedly.

"Shhh!" Koji hissed in a scolding manner, wordlessly telling them to keep quiet before someone hears them. Both his friends guiltily covered their mouths to prevent them for saying anything else.

Then, with a vague crook of his finger, Koji silently signalled for them to follow him as he began to stealthily move down the cliff. So, like a trio of spies, they furtively made their way closer to the ground. They were forced to crawl on their hands and knees as the side of the cliff suddenly sloped downward like a rocky hill. For the first few moments, they crept down the rock formation slowly and quietly, but then they started to pick of their pace. Every time the three came to some rocks that would provide cover for them, they would swiftly jump behind them and peak over its edge to make sure no one had saw them, and then went back to crawling again when they saw they were still in the clear. Finally, they all arrived at a ledge and stayed there after deciding not only would it be able to provide them cover in case someone looked up their way, but it also gave them a closer look at the people down below.

There were four of them. Three of them were standing- well, the unfamiliar pink pudgy guy in the strange clothes and the just as unfamiliar red guy were really standing, albeit the latter seemed as if he was hurt as he was holding his side. The other one, another unfamiliar guy, much shorter than the other two, was jumping up and down like a raving lunatic, screaming vehemently at the red man about something or another. However, the fourth person down there was someone that the three of them did recognize, as they remembered him to be the lavender man from the tournament.

"Hey, it's that strange guy from the tournament!" Goten realized, surprised

"I-Is he dead?" Hoshi asked, sounding faintly alarmed.

"It sure looks that way, huh?" Koji replied. His young features twisted in a frown of puzzlement, as something about this whole picture just didn't sit right with him.

"Do you think one of them could be the Majin?" Goten asked, both he and Hoshi looking towards Koji.

"I don't know. I just heard about him today like you guys did," Koji replied.

"They all feel pretty evil," Hoshi opined. "It could be any one of them."

"You're right," Koji agreed, looking serious. "Let's watch them and see what they're planning to do."

Koji's suggestion was agreed upon by his companions, and so the three of them sat back and watched the scene going on below them unfold.

* * *

Babidi was extremely upset right now, and the source of his anger was none other than his former number one servant Dabura, and he was verbally assaulting him with a very angry tirade.

"Dabura, you fool!" Babidi snarled, his face twisted in fury as he glared wrathfully up at the King of Demons. "How dare you lay a hand on my Majin Buu! How dare you!"

"Babidi-sama...," Dabura said, his voice sounding hoarse, still holding his side as evidence of the beating he'd taken at the hands of Majin Buu earlier. "Buu is someone you cannot control. Eventually, he will drop his false act and calamity will befall you. Please...we must work together to defeat him now before it's too late!"

For a moment, Babidi stared angrily at the demonic warrior. Then his mouth curled into a very nasty sneer.

"You really are an idiot, Dabura!" he said, laughing derisively.

"Babidi-sama?" Dabura said, looking puzzled at the warlock.

"You haven't figured it out by now?" Babidi asked. "Just like all the rest, you were nothing more than a mere pawn I used to help me reach my aims in freeing Majin Buu. You are of no longer use to me!"

Dabura stared at the Madoshi, stunned into silence. The demon was then reminded of his conversation with Pui Pui earlier, where the ailen fighter had reminded him of how his services with the warlock wasn't eternal, and that he could be tossed away just like Spopovich and Yamu once Babidi had no more need for him.

Babidi laughed heartlessly, seeing the effect of his admission hit his former number one hard. Beside him, Majin Buu was laughing as well, mostly because he was still envisioning turning the demon into some type of food and gobbling him up. It had really been such a longer time since he last ate anything.

In the next instant, Dabura face went from shock to righteous anger as he glowered at Babidi, standing tall once more his fury over the mage's betrayal making him forget all about his injuries for the moment.

"Why you wretched piece of garbage!" Dabura barked ferociously, his clawed hands clenching into fists. "No one treats the mighty Dabura-sama from the Demon Realm as their toy!" And Dabura took a threatening step forward.

Babidi began to back away, wide-eyed with fear, as Dabura started to slowly stalk towards him, smirking balefully. The diminutive warlock couldn't believe it, Dabura was actually going to try and kill him; it was this very frightening fact that reminded Babidi of just how atrocious a killer Dabura himself was. Quickly, he looked over in Majin Buu's direction after remembering he now had a servant who even put Dabura's strength to shame.

"Majin Buu! What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Kill Dabura- or eat him up like you said, already!"

"Hm?" Majin Buu said, looking from Babidi to Dabura then back again. It seems as if he was deciding on whether allowing Dabura to kill Babidi might not be such a bad idea. However, then he remembered Dabura throwing that spear through his stomach earlier; and more importantly, he remembered that he was still very hungry. The idea of getting something to eat heavily outweighed the pleasure of watching the annoying warlock die.

"Gonna eat'cha! Gonna eat'cha! Gonna eat'cha up!" Majin Buu sung repeatedly, as he began to make his way toward Dabura.

"You disgusting freak!" Dabura snarled.

Dabura went on the attack. Majin Buu hadn't even seen Dabura moved before he suddenly found himself being pummelled with fists of fury. Babidi watched, aghast, as the demon turned his slave into a punching bag. Each blow sent the bloated monster rocking backwards, with dents being ploughed into Buu's doughy body as he was getting the worst of Dabura's ire. After a wicked right cross-hook kick combination, Dabura sent Buu flying into some well-placed rock where he landed jarringly, stirring up a cloud of dust and rock fragments. While Dabura stared at his handiwork in cold delight and Babidi in stark disbelief, up from their perch on the ledge, Koji, Goten, and Hoshi were staring down at the King of Demons in equal amazement.

Dabura took his eyes off the rock pile Buu was currently buried under to look haughtily over at Babidi.

"What do you thik of your pet now, Babidi?" he sneered.

Babidi scowled sulkily at the demon. "Dammit! If you've done any damage to him, I'll kill you!"

Dabura laughed contemptuously. "Just how are you going to accomplish that? With your magic?" he sneered. With a evil smirk, he added, "I'll break your scrawny body in half like a toothpick before you even utter a single spell! In fact...I think that's exactly what I will do."

Panic instantly replaced the anger in Babidi's eyes as he was suddenly just reminded that he was once again alone and unprotected. He tried to backpedal away as Dabura started to advance slowly and menacingly toward him. However, he'd only gotten five steps when all of a sudden, Dabura vanished. Babidi gawped at the area the King of Demons had just been standing in just a mere second ago.

"Where in the world did he go?" he wondered.

"Why, I'm right behind you just like always," a cold, surly voice came from behind him.

Babidi froze in place momentarily, his heart seizing in his chest. Then, he slowly whirled around...and found Dabura standing there, glaring down at him in rage. Screaming in fear, the warlock had tried to turn around and run away, but Dabura moved a lot quicker than him, swiftly reaching out and snatching the Madoshi up off the ground by his collar. As he hoisted him up to his eye level, Dabura grinned evilly at his former master.

"Any last words Babidi, before I crush you?"

Desperately, Babidi howled, "Help me, Majin Buu!"

As if that had been some secret cue, an explosion-like noise suddenly went off behind the demon and the warlock. They both looked around, with Babidi still ensnared in Dabura's merciless grip, in time to see the large, pudgy form of Majin Buu tumbling over and over in the air in a succession of flips. While Dabura stared in frustration, Babidi looked utterly relieved to see his slave.

Majin Buu eventually alighted back on the ground, making the radius of earth around him, Dabura, and Babidi shake. Though, it made one wonder if Buu was in fact all right as he was still wearing those nasty bruises Dabura had inflicted on him. But one wouldn't have to worry for long, for Majin Buu suddenly inhaled very deeply and then exhaled, however as he did so, he didn't do with his mouth open like most normal people did. He exhaled with his mouth closed, and the air he was supposed to have release went to the dents of his body instead, filling them back up with more skin. When he was back to his normal state of health, Majin Buu smiled mischievously at Dabura.

"Unbelievable!" Dabura growled, gawping at the djinn while at the same time dropping Babidi rather unceremoniously onto the ground. *_This Majin Buu character is a very odd creature indeed, and also very dangerous! I can't afford to take him likely, or he could very well take my life!*  
_  
Clenching his fists together, Majin Buu began dancing his way back toward his opponent, while chanting: "Gonna eat'cha up! Gonna eat'cha up! Gonna eat'cha!"

The more Dabura listened to Buu's mantra, the more the demon's blood boiled with indignation. He was the King of the Dark Demon Realm! Not someone's snack!

"I'll teach him to show me some respect!" Dabura vowed, clenching his right hand in cold determination.

Slowly, the demon started to rise into the air, stopping when he was floating more than a hundred yards over the area. Gritting his teeth, Dabura stretched his right hand forward, splaying his fingers as he gathered power.

"That guy's ki..." Koji said, as he and the other two half-Saiyajin were staring up at Dabura in equal amazement. "It keeps getting bigger and bigger!"

Even as high as he was in the sky, he could still hear Buu's irritating motto, and it served to only infuriate him even more. His anger than seeped outward in the form of crimson concentric rings that formed atop of each other in his palm.

"Hm?" Majin Buu stopped in his dance when he suddenly noticed Dabura in the air, though that huge smile still remained on his face.

"Now, DIE!" Dabura howled, unleashing his fury upon the Majin. A salvo of reddish energy blasts sprung from his palm, streaking earthward toward its weighty target. Majin Buu's smile actually widened as the barrage of ki bursts showered down atop of him, causing fire and smoke to bloom up around him, hiding him from anyone's view.

"No! Majin Buu!" Babidi wailed after witnessing the whole thing with a horrified expression. Although he knew Dabura's attack _hadn't _killed Majin Buu, he still didn't like to watch anyone abuse his favorite slave.

When Dabura had stopped in his assault at last, he hissed in pain as putting a lot of energy into that last attack had caused the injuries Buu had given him earlier to burn painfully. But he bore the pain stolidly; if his energy attack could at least fatally scathe his irregular and formidable foe, if not completely kill him, then the pain would be very worth it.

"That red guy is pretty strong, isn't he you guys?" Goten commented.

"Yeah, and he's actually kinda scary when he gets mad like that," Koji added. He was secretly glad that he hadn't gone up against someone like the angry red guy back at the tournament.

"Do you think he got that pink guy that time?" Hoshi asked.

"Yeah, the red man beat him up badly, and but then he healed himself back up and went back in for more," Koji remarked.

"You know something, guys," Goten said thoughtfully. "I think that pink guy is actually Majin Buu."

Koji and Hoshi looked over at their friend, traded surprised glances, than looked back at Goten again.

"What?" Goten asked, blinking at them.

"You know Goten, I think you might actually be right about something," Koji said. Then under his breath he muttered, "For once."

In the meantime, Dabura was actually beginning to enjoy his moment of respite, when all of a sudden his sharp hearing picked up the sound of a very ominous mantra. "Gonna eat'cha up! Gonna eat'cha up! Gonna eat'cha up! Gonna eat'cha up!"

Dabura froze in place, not believing what he was hearing.

"No, it just can't be!" he said in disbelief. "That creature is back up already!"

But unfortunately, Majin Buu had fully recovered from the demon's attack. He came stepping out of the smoke left behind from Dabura's attack- well, more like came dancing out- still chanting his motto of eating Dabura. Up on the cliff, the three half-Saiyajin stared at the djinn in amazement, while Babidi broke out into triumphant, evil laughter.

"You see, Dabura!" Babidi boasted up at his former slave. "You can never hope to defeat my Majin Buu! No one can! He is invincible!"

Dabura clenched his fists as he fumed at the warlock's boastful comment. "Majin Buu is not invincible! Even he can be defeated, and I'm about prove it!"

Dabura attacked again, this time spitting out a barrage of his turn-anything-it-hits-into-stone saliva upon the Majin. As if he was aware of what the barrage of saliva was capable of, Majin Buu showcased surprising nimbleness as he dodged each one of Dabura's spittle attack. Though, not everyone was so fortunate, as some of Dabura's spittle landed on a poor, unsuspecting salamander that had only come out to hunt for something eat, and was turned into instant stone. Even someone of Buu's intelligence knew an opening when he saw one, as he soon found one in the King of Demons defenses and opted to go on the attack.

"Turn into a cookie!" Majin Buu commanded. His forelock became erected on the top of his head, flaring with pink energy. His attack, the _Henka Beam, _then leaped skyward in a spiral at terminal velocity and struck Dabura dead on before he knew what hit him. Dabura let out a howl mixed with surprise and pain as he was engulfed by the energy blast, he tried to get away, but wasn't able to as the beam had hardened his whole body, making him feel like the stone figurines he'd made out of Kuririn and Piccolo earlier. Dabura briefly went up in a pink puff of a smoke, then a moment later, when the smoke had dispersed, a life-size, chocolate-Dabura-cookie stood in the place of the once formidable warrior.

Babidi whooped with excitement at what he'd just seen. "Oh, Majin Buu! You are absolutely wonderful!" he commended the pudgy warrior, as he walked up to him.

Buu was actually more concerned with catching the large cookie falling out of the sky than how proud Babidi was of him. When it came into reaching distance, the greedy djinn caught the cookie neatly, though the weight of it, coupled with the gravity had made him stagger a little bit.

"That's right Buu, eat him up! Digest that has-been!" Babidi yelled in encouragement, Majin Buu didn't need to told twice, he tossed the cookie into the air and when it fall back down to earth Buu's mouth stretched and he gobbled down the Dabura cookie.

Neither him nor Babidi still didn't noticing the trio hiding on a cliff behind them, looking on in shock and horror.

"D-did you guys just see that?" Koji asked his companions shakily.

"Uh-huh!" Goten and Hoshi answered at the same time, both trembling with shock and fear after witnessing the horrific scene down below.

"H-he just turned that red guy into a cookie...and ate him!" Goten exclaimed.

"I didn't even think it was possible to turn other people into food!" said Hoshi.

"What are we gonna do, Koji-kun?" Goten asked worriedly, turning to his friend like he always did whenever there was a problem to big for him to understand.

"I-I don't know!" Koji said with a tremble in his voice. He then shook himself, silently rebuking himself for him- the son of Prince Vegeta- actually being afraid of the Majin Buu monster. Putting confidence into his voice, he added, "But hey, don't worry about it, you guys. I'm sure Papa and Gohan and Hoshi's mom will be here soon to beat up that Buu monster and send him packing in no time."

He frowned slightly when he saw his cousin and best friend didn't exactly look very convinced by his words. And to be honest, if only to himself, he wasn't all that convinced of what they'd just said either.

Because they were facing the other direction, the kids didn't notice the occurrence going on behind and below them.

With the death of Dabura, the victims of his stone-curse were finally freed. The first of his victims to be revived was an unlucky lizard who had chosen the wrong time of day to come out and look for something to eat. For a brief moment, it tilted its head and blinked its large eyes, as if wondering what it had just been doing. Then it remembered that it was hungry and went scampering off in search of food.

Kuririn was the second to be resurrected. The stone statue of the former monk brief, before the figurine transformed back into a living being. Kuririn gasped, swivelling his head this way and that as if something in one of those directions could tell him why he felt disoriented and dazed.

"What's going on here?" Kuririn asked himself. He noticed everyone else was missing. "And where are Amara and the others?"

Then he remembered how Dabura had attacked him earlier.

"Dabura! Yeah, that's right, he spat on me and turned me into stone," he growled, frowning at the memory.

It was then and there, that Hoshi picked up on a voice talking behind her. Looking around and behind her, she broke out in a smile when she saw who it was.

"Oh, Papa! There are you are!" she exclaimed, drawing Goten's and Koji's gazes on the shorter man as well.

"Huh?" Kuririn replied, hearing the familiar voice of his daughter. He looked up to see Hoshi, Goten, and Koji standing on the ledge above him. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

"We came looking for you, Papa, and the others," Hoshi answered, as her and her friends touched down in front of her father.

"It got boring back at the tournament, so we decided to come help you all fight the Majin!" Goten added.

Kuririn looked at the three as if they should have their heads examined.

"Listen, you three, this is not a game!" he said sternly. "The situation over here is very dangerous!"

Everyone looked around and up when they heard movement behind them. They saw Piccolo standing over them all on a ridge above them, looking down at them.

"Hey, it's Piccolo-san," Goten said.

"What are you three doing here?" Piccolo instantly demanded. But before anyone could answer him, his senses immediately picked up on everything in his surroundings. Looking briefly panicked, Piccolo quickly whirled around and ducked down on ledge.

"What in the world is that incredible ki I'm feeling!" he asking, mostly himself. The others levitated up to the ledge below him and peeked over it.

"Hey, who's that big pink fellow down there?" Kuririn asked.

Piccolo's eyes widened as a realization kicked in. "Is that...Majin Buu?"

"Yeah, and he just turned this red guy into this cookie and ate him!" Koji revealed.

Both Piccolo and Kuririn gasped in surprised, immediately realizing that the red guy he was speaking of was undoubtedly Dabura.

"That Shin guy is down there, too," Hoshi pointed out.

Piccolo and Kuririn gasped when they then noticed Kaioushin down below with Majin Buu and Babidi. But even from the distance they were at, they could clearly see Kaioushin was severely battered and bruised.

"He doesn't look to good," Kuririn said worriedly.

"Where in the world are Goku and the others?" Piccolo demanded. "What's going on here?"

Just then, an explosion went off...

"No! My beautiful spaceship!" Babidi wailed, staring horrified at the fragments of his spaceship strewn over the ground in front of him and Majin Buu, blown to bits by the sudden explosion.

Babidi and Majin Buu stared over at the thick, black smoke issuing from the part of the earth that led to the inside of what was once Babidi's ship. The warlock glowered furiously, gnashing his teeth.

"Grr! When I find out whoever blew up my ship, they're dead!" he vowed.

As the smoke continued to slowly dissipate, the warlock and the demon could soon make out shapes moving about behind the smoke. It was three of them actually; one was shorter than the other two. Another brisk wind blew through the area, helping dispersing the smoke along, and at the same time it gradually lifted up the smoke screen hiding the three mysterious fighters and revealed them to everyone watching.

Babidi stared in stunned astonishment at the culprits.

"Vegeta? Amara? Juuhachi-gou? What are you three doing here?" he demanded.

Majin Vegeta, Majin Amara, and Majinzou Juuhachi-gou smirked back at the warlock in various level of devilness.

"Hey! It's Papa and Mama!" Koji enthused. "I didn't know she was here."

"And there's Kaasan, too!" Hoshi said just as happily. Beside her, Kuririn was smiling in relief to see that his wife was all right.

"Hey, where's Gohan-oniisan? And Papa?" Goten asked, looking worried. "I don't see them anywhere."

"Hm. There's something different about all three of them," Piccolo commented to himself.

Meanwhile, back down below...

"How dare you! How dare you three destroy my ship!" Babidi barked. "I never gave you three any orders to destroy my ship, right!"

"It was a bit crude, but we used it as a shortcut," Vegeta said.

"Besides, we wanted to get over as quickly as possible and meet the Majin Buu our energy helped to revive," Amara said, glaring furiously at Buu the whole time.

Juuhachi-gou was scowling at Buu as well. Majin Buu's strength had disconcerted her earlier when she sensed it, but seeing him in person, wearing that childly simper on his face, unsettled her even more. _*Gohan.*_

Babidi seethed. "There you two go again, disobeying me! I won't put up with such attitude like I did with Raiden." The warlock turned to Juuhachi-gou. "Juuhachi-gou, I order you to kill them both! That is what you planned to do, right?"

Looking at Babidi, Juuhachi-gou smirked.

"Unfortunately for you, I'm even worse than they are about taking orders," she said.

Babidi gaped at the woman, then glared. "Unbelievable! How are you three able to defy my like this even after I placed you under my curse?"

Majin Vegeta was looking directly at Buu now, grinning.

"So, this uncomely, preposterous fellow here is Majin Buu," he said. The grin vanished. "How dare you kill Gohan!"

With his long-range hearing, Piccolo hadn't missed what Vegeta had just said, and his heart sunk into his feet at the dreadful news. "_No, not you, Gohan... "_

Kuririn and the half-Saiyajin kids caught the look on his face.

"Hey, what are Papa and the others talking about down there?" Koji asked.

"What's un-come-ly?" Majin Buu asked Babidi.

"What's that?" Babidi repeated. "He means you're ugly. You know, have a strange face."

At first, it appeared as if Majin Buu was going to take the insult in stride, as that same childish grin appeared on his face. Then, out of the blue, his face twisted into complete fury. Spreading his legs apart, Buu took on a stance. Abruptly, his arms, legs, torso, and head enlarged.

"Hey, now!" Babidi cried, falling over in surprise. "Majin Buu!"

"What is he up to?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

"He's powering up," Amara answered gravely.

Momentarily, the Majin deflated back to original size with another release of smoke through the holes on his head.

"What a pleasant fellow," Vegeta opined, finding it all amusing.

"Now I'm mad!" Majin Buu bellowed, thrusting his fists into the air. "Gonna kill ya! Gonna kill ya!"

Rising back up to his feet, Babidi glanced at Majin Buu, then he glanced back at the three in front of them angrily.

"You all are rotten scum!" Babidi declared. "Fine! Majin Buu, kill all three of them for disobeying me!"

"Hey, that monsterous freak's ki just grew bigger!" Kuririn stated. "What is that guy?"

"Papa! Mama! Give to that Majin!" Koji called down.

"Hang tough, Mama!" Hoshi called down.

Juuhachi-gou immediately turned in the direction she heard her son's voice.

"It's Koji!" she said. "And Goten and Hoshi are here, too!"

Amara was looking over at the cliffs as well, and almost immediately she spotted her husband lying beside the kids. _*Kuririn.*_

Looking at his wife and sister sidelong, Vegeta said, "You two, get away from here. I will face Majin Buu alone!"

The two stared back at him in varying levels of surprise. Then, Juuhachi-gou scowled, and without so much as a word, she took off. However, Majin Amara wasn't about to leave so easily.

"What are you waiting for?" Vegeta barked. "Leave!"

"I will not!" Amara replied defiantly. "Buu being freed was just as much my fault as it was yours, so I have every right to face fight him, too."

"Fool!" her brother berated. "What difference do you think you can make when you're not as strong as me or...Gohan?"

Majin Amara's eyes widened as those words hit home hard, but for a different reason-

_"Papa, don't do this!" shouted a young Amara. "I don't want to be sent away! I want to stay here with you and fight!" _

_"Fool!" Vegeta-Ou berated. "What difference do you think you could make against Furiiza? No more arguing, my decision is made!"_

As she returned to the present, Amara backed down. Ever-so slowly, she turned around and flew off.

"Huh?" Majin Buu said, watching both women flying way.

"Majin Buu! Stop them!" Babidi ordered. "Don't you dare let those two escape!"

"Hey! I'm the only opponent here you have to worry about!" Vegeta shouted, just as it looked like Majin Buu was actually about to go after Amara and Juuhachi-gou.

He immediately gained the Majin's attention. Stancing himself, Vegeta concentrated and summoned up all his power to the surface, his aura lashing out at Majin Buu and Babidi both.

"Majin Buu, I accept the possibility that I won't be alive when this is all over it," Vegeta said fatalistically. "But I won't be going to Hell alone!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	33. Vegeta's Lone Battle

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of their are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Vegeta's Lone Battle**

* * *

In a place that was faraway from Chikyuu, Kosumo reappeared at the top of a grassy summit in a shimmer of pale light.

She was about to walk off, when suddenly a breeze blew past her, and she stopped. Whirling around, she frowned into the distance. Even as far from Lower World as she was, she could still sense what was happening on the Earth, and she didn't like most of what she felt. Thankfully, she could still feel Kaioushin's ki, but it was quite weak. She could still feel the ki of Son Goku and it was weak, too, but not as weak as what she was sensing from Kaioushin. What was going on? Why did Vegeta and Amara seen so much more powerful than they had been the last time she was around them? And what was that strong evil ki she was reading?

Her eyes widened in dismay, as she was hit with a sudden thought that chilled her to the bone. Did that huge ki signature belonged to...was that...?

"So, it has happened," she murmured in a flat tone. "Majin Buu has returned."

But how was that so? How could Babidi have managed to gather enough energy to reawaken Buu so quickly? She did not like the looks of this at all.

*_Well, that is why I have come here,* _she reminded herself firmly, as she turned back around and gazed down the hill she was on. At the base of the hill, beyond a archway made of stone, a large, stone building stood tall.

Rising into the air, she drifted down to the building and alighted near the archway. She briefly stared up at the building; being this close to it, she felt rather insignificant next to it. It possessed a majestic ancientness about it that commanded reverence, and at the same time warned visitors to tread lightly inside. Kosumo shook her head, driving away such thoughts and focusing herself back on the task at hand. Steeling herself, she walked up the sweeping stone steps, pushed opened the large double doors, and stepped on inside.

As soon as she was in, the darkness that greeted her dispersed at once, as candles lit up all around her on both walls. After visiting this place several times in the past, she was quite to used to this, so it did not catch her by surprise at all. What the Guardian of Cosmos was looking at, was the large stone table that sat on the far side of the room. Just then, one by one, figures in brown robes materialized by the tables, their features perfectly concealed. Immediately, Kosumo genuflected in respect towards the being.

"Guardian Cosmos," said the robed being in the middle. "To what do we owe this visit from you?"

"It was one of great importance, Elder," Kosumo murmured. "The evil Majin Buu has been resurrected into the universe."

At once, there came many gasps from the Elders. They conversed with each other in shocked whipsers, their voices swirling around the room like whirlwinds.

"Silence," ordered the Elder in the center. His command was instantly obeyed. "Majin Buu has been released from his imprisonment you say?"

"Yes, Grand Elder-sama..." Kosumo replied. "Which is why...I wish to borrow the Galactic Rings."

* * *

Juuhachi-gou and Amara touched down on the part of the cliff where Kuririn and the three half-Saiyajin were, and the four, along with Piccolo, stared in stunned silence at the appearance of the Oujo and the Jinzouningen. Both their clothes were torn and ripped in several places, and grime and bruises smeared their faces here and there (though they weren't that visible on Juuhachi-gou, due to her durable skin).

"K-Kaasan?" Koji said hesitantly. Something felt very different about his mother, and it wasn't just her appearance. From both her and Amara.

Piccolo and Kuririn had been shocked at the sight of them for another reason. It was because of the M tattooed on the center of their foreheads, and the heavy dark coloring underneath their eyes. They looked just like with Spopovich and Yamu.

"Th-those symbols...!" Kuririn gasped, his face pale.

"They're... the emblems of the Majin!" Piccolo growled, teeth clenching.

"Amara and Juuhachi-gou-san have been possessed by Babidi!" Kuririn exclaimed.

The three half-Saiyajin gave the two women stunned looks, before instinctively backing away and moving closer to Piccolo and Kuririn. Meanwhile, Piccolo poised himself to be ready in case Babidi's obvious latest recruits decided to try anything funny. At their reaction to their appearance, both Majinzou Juuhachi-gou and Majin Amara exchanged faintly amused glances and then turned their gazes back onto the others.

"Relax. None of you have anything to fear us," Amara told them.

"Despite how we seem, we aren't Babidi's slaves," Juuhachi-gou said.

Kuririn blew a big sigh of relief. "Thank goodness! The last thing we need is for you guys to be fighting for Babidi's team."

"But I don't understand," Piccolo said, frowning. "If you two aren't Babidi's slaves, then why do you look like that? What's been going on while we were out of commission?" The Namekseijin was just barely able to stop himself from demanding to know how come Gohan was dead, but to spare Goten of hearing something that was going to be so painful just out of the blue, he was able to hold himself back.

"It's a long story," Amara replied, looking down at the ground, her expression dark. Standing next to her, Juuhachi-gou had a similiar expression.

Then, for the first time since she and Amara landed on the cliff, Juuhachi-gou's eyes shifted over her son. Koji cringed and smiled sheepishly, knowing he had a lot to answer for, however, the smile quickly vanished when her eyes narrowed frostily on him. He always felt uncomfortable whenever his mother looked at him like that.

"Hmph! Why I am not surprised that you would find your way our here?" Juuhachi-gou said. "And by the way, I haven't forgotten about your prank earlier this morning back at the tournament, either." As she said that last comment, her cold gaze briefly flicked over in Goten's direction, making him quail like his friend had, before landing back on her son.

"We're sorry," Koji apologized.

"Yeah, we're sorry," Goten said.

"Mama, you aren't mad at me for coming out here, are you?" Hoshi asked her mother. Amara looked down at her daughter.

"Actually, it would have been better if you three hadn't come out here at all," the Princess replied, before turning away. "Just stay out of the way."

"Hey, I think something's about to happen down there!" Picoclo announced. He was kneeling closer towards the edge of the cliff, peering earthward at the figures below.

Wanting to see the oncoming battle between Majin Vegeta and Majin Buu would play out, everyone moved closer to take a better look at what was to come.

Majin Vegeta was absolutely focused. Even as hot anger flowed through every fiber of his being, and could also be seen flickering in his teal eyes, he kept his emotions firmly in check. He knew how notorious he was for allowing his rage to get the better of him while in battle, and all those times usually resulted in whatever enemy he was dealing with at that time to get the better of him. But he wasn't going to allow that to happen this time; _especially_ this time! His latest opponent was a very unusual creature, and quite formidable in spite of his appearance. After all, he killed Gohan, and it took someone beyond extraordinary strength to accomplish that. At the reminder, the prince's rage seeped out onto his face, twisting it into cold fury.

_*I will make him pay for that!*_ he vowed. *_With my life on the line, Majin Buu will be destroyed on this day!*_

And then Vegeta vanished.

"Huh?" It was the only thing Majin Buu and Babidi were able to say, before all of a sudden, the two of them looked up to see Majin Vegeta barrelling out of the sky...aiming right for Majin Buu.

Majin Buu obviously didn't have good enough sense to try and move out of the way of the charging Saiyajin Prince, and now he was about to see why that hadn't been such a good idea. Deadly intents had been on the mind Vegeta as he struck out savagely at Buu with the first blow made in the battle, ramming his fist into the genie's pudgy face. He then followed up with vicious knee strikes that left two more dents in Buu's face, joining the one the prince's punch had left, before finally just unleashing an all-out onslaught of punches and kicks on the Majin.

"M-Majin Buu!" Babidi squawked in disbelief, looking saucer-eyed as his seemingly invincible servant was skillfully and savagely pummelled with strikes that would've very well easily cracked Earth in half. "What are you doing? Fight back!"

"A-Awesome!" Kuririn stammered, gawking down at his brother-in-law in amazement. "Vegeta is unbelievably strong!"

Beside him, Amara watched her brother's fierce assault on Buu in quiet awe. _*To think that Babidi's magic would increase your ki this much, Vegeta. Or is it wanting to avenge Gohan fueling you on?* _Amara sighed in resignation. _*In any case, you were right, just like Father was that time...I wouldn't have made a difference at all.*_

Next to her, both Goten and Hoshi watched on, dutifully impressed.

"Way to go! Way to go, Papa!" Koji cheered loudly and proudly, pumping his right fist enthusiastically. "You're great!"

While her cheered his father on, Juuhachi-gou observed without response. Though at the same time, she couldn't stop herself from being astounded by Vegeta's performance.

_*This is remarkable. Even if it is Vegeta,*_ Piccolo was thinking to himself. *_Somehow, after Dabura had turned Kuririn and me into stone, Vegeta was able to get a whole lot stronger and faster than he'd been earlier this morning. And so has Amara, also.*_ As he was saying that last comment, he looked directly over at the Saiyajin no Oujo. Amara didn't even notice him as she was too much interested in the battle in progress beneath them. Piccolo's sharp gaze then shifted over to Juuhachi-gou, who was unaware of the Namekseijin looking at her. *_Although I can't really sense any ki from Juuhachi-gou, I can tell she's gotten stronger, too. Of course! It's because of the spell Babidi placed on them! Like with Spopovich, their power has been exponentially increased. But even more so than Spopovich had, because unlike him, Vegeta, Amara, and Juuhachi-gou were already powerful to begin with. So that's why Vegeta's more than a match for Majin Buu. Not even Gohan had been.* _

Piccolo's chest ached painfully at the horrible reminder that his first pupil and first real friend was gone now. He felt guilty for not being there to have saved Gohan when Majin Buu was about to kill him. Though he didn't really know what he would've done against the djinn had he been able to be there when he was fighting Gohan, he would have still tried his best to keep Gohan safe...even if that meant sacrificing his life for the teenager like he done for him when he was a kid during their battle with Vegeta and Nappa. He would have died for the half-Saiyajin again with no regrets. But now Gohan was gone, and he hadn't even at least gotten the chance to tell him goodbye. At that moment, Piccolo utterly hated Majin Buu.

_*Get him, Vegeta!*_ he cheered silently, his face contorted in fury. *_Kill him!*_

Back on the battlefield, it seemed as if Vegeta really had heard Piccolo's plea and was doing exactly he'd wanted him to: to make Majin Buu suffer. Reaching outward, he grapped a hold of Buu's forelock in a merciless grip, but his hold on the monster was not as nearly as merciless as the kicks he dealt to the back of the Majin's head, leaving nearly as many dents there as nearly all of Majin Buu's body was now sporting. Deciding on a change of tactics, Vegeta grinned sinisterly as he suddenly wrapped his other arm around Buu's forelock; with a flex of his powerful muscles, he slammed the demon into the ground _hard_, denting another crater into the terrain. Keeping his grip on his pudgy opponent, Majin Vegeta lifted again and slammed him into the earth on his other side. As Majin Vegeta lifted him up a third time, instead of slamming him into the ground, he started to spin his place for a few moments before stopping, pitching Majin Buu forward into the air. The prince let rise several yards into the air before he went after him, disappearing than reappearing above him, barreling feet-first into the demon's stomach like a piledriver.

"Aaaaggghhhh!" Babidi screamed when he saw Majin Buu falling out of the air at terminal speed...heading straight his way! It took a moment for his brain to point that out to his legs, which had been still rooted to the ground, and when his legs recieved the message, they were just barely able to carry the warlock to safety as Majin Buu had crashed into the ground a mere second later.

After regaining his calm (and had reached a safe distance), Babidi turned around to see what had happened and nearly keeled over in shock at what he saw: Majin Buu's large form lying prone and unmoving on the battered earth yards away from him, his lavender cape billowing briefly behind him as it got caught in the the airstreams of a passing breeze. The warlock grew pale at the dreadful picture of seeing his powerful minion in such a state. Then he saw Vegeta descend out of the sky and touch down at few feet away from the motionless demon, and scowled furiously at him.

"N-no! It can't be!" Babidi said denial. "Majin Buu can't possibly be defeated! It's impossible!"

Piccolo, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara stared in astoundment.

"Incredible!" Kuririn commented.

"He got him!" Koji cheered, jumping in the air. "He got him! He got him! He got him! That's my Papa for you!" Koji turned to his mother. "Mama, isn't Papa amazing?"

Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened as if surprised by such a question. She then gave him a small smile.

"Right," she told him. It was the truth, however, even in spite of how she felt about her lover right now.

Koji turned to his cousin and best friend. "Hoshi! Goten! Did you two see, my Papa's strength just then?"

"Vegeta-ojisan is incredible!" Hoshi said.

"Yeah!" Goten agreed.

Babidi couldn't believe it, he couldn't dare believe that Vegeta had actually killed his Majin Buu.

He was starting to think that maybe when his mother had once told him he was an overzealous idiot he should have listened to her, instead of killing her for it. He'd made a huge mistake in listening to Dabura, when the demon had suggested the idea of placing Vegeta under his Soul-Enslaving Curse, along with Amara and Juuhachi-gou. Not only had his spell actually failed in putting the Prince under his control, but it seemed to be working against him now as Vegeta was using his newfound strength against him. He would have gladly taken the spell off the Saiyajin Prince had it not been for that annoying drawback this particular spell: in order for his spell to be removed, he himself would have to die, and there was no way he was going to try and kill himself just to take his enchantment off the Prince.

Still, Babidi thought with a sudden smug expression, Vegeta was under his spell, whether or not it was affecting him properly. Like anybody else placed under his curse, he could use the very same evil in their heart that had given him the urge to turn them into one of his Majin warriors in the first place and destroy them with it- just like he did with Spopovich. With a nasty grin on his face, Babidi was just about to do just that, when all of a sudden...something quite interesting had caught his attention.

Majin Buu was starting to move.

Vegeta, however, had noticed that a split second earlier than the mage and quickly put himself on guard.

"So, you still have some life left you, eh?" he asked.

In spite of himself, the Prince watched in awe as Majin Buu slowly, inch by inch, picked himself off the ground and stood on his own two feet. He was still wearing the deep gouges that the prince's beating on him had left, and also...that irritating huge smile on his face. Then, right before Vegeta's eyes, Majin Buu took a deep breath and then exhaled just as deeply but with his mouth closed, causing all the air he'd held inside to go straight to dents on his body and filling them. Majin Buu was good as new.

"Wh-what?" Kuririn said in confoundment.

"Damn," Amara swore.

_*What are we up against this time?* _Juuhachi-gou asked herself. _*Majin Buu extraordinary freak, all right. Had I known that this would be the price for allowing Babidi to possess me, I never would have had anything to do with him... E-even in spite of the situation I had been at the time!*_

"Great! This is great!" Babidi was cheering down below. "Vegeta! I may have made you more powerful, but you still don't have what it takes to defeat my wonderful Majin Buu! Buu, now is our chance to kill him!"

"Hoo-ha!" Majin Buu said in way of agreement, thrusting his fists toward the sky in premature victory. The Majin then started to amble his way slowly back toward Vegeta.

In way of response, Vegeta held out his right gloved hand, folding all fingers except for his index and middle fingers and thumb. Peals of blue electricity dancing through the prince's aura as he accumulated power. All around them, the blue sky darkened, and Vegeta's Super Saiyajin Two aura was left as the only source of light.

A hush fell over over the battlefield, as all watched with suspense to see what Prince of Saiyajin would throw at the Majin next.

"Papa! Go!" Koji urged.

Almost as if he had heard his son, the golden numbus around Vegeta flared larger and brighter. Majin Buu was staring back at his opponent wide-eyed in surprise, sensing that something was about to happen.

And Vegeta fired. Buu screamed in pain as the attack pierced through his stomach, the force of it lifting him off the group where he tumbled over once, and then crashed back down to earth dramatically; a gaping hole now decorated his body.

Babidi screamed in horror.

Kuririn, Goten, Hoshi, and Koji cheered in joy; even Piccolo was cheering.

Vegeta smirked quietly in victory.

Then, Majin Buu's right hand started to move. As Vegeta, his family, Kuririn, Piccolo, and Goten were staring in shock, Babidi was grinning in triumph again. And right before everyone's eyes, Majin Buu pulled himself back up to his feet, the large hole still seen in his stomach. But the Majin's Regeneration ability immediately took care of that.

Vegeta was beginning to lose his cool. He was growing rapidly infuriated because for all the heavy damage he dealt to Majin Buu, the obese creature would just regenerate himself and all the fighting would begin all over again. Even now, Majin Buu stood whole again before him, smiling that disgustingly big smile of his. How was he supposed to defeat an enemy who could heal every injury he gets inflicted with? Was this creature immortal?

In spite of himself, that trademark cruel smirk quirked the prince's lips.

_*This fight is turning out to be a most interesting, one,*_ he thought. *_I'd never expected Buu to have such abilities as Regeneration before I entered this battle. I wonder what other trick he's capable of doing?* _Just as soon as he asked himself that, he shook his head. (_*o, maybe its best I shouldn't worry about that. What I should be worrying about is searching for this creature's weak point. But the problem is that I can't find any weakness in this creature. It's almost as if what Babidi says is true...that Majin Buu is invincible. However, I don't really believe that for a moment. Buu must have a weakness somewhere in him. Like everything and everyone in this universe, if he was created, he can also be destroyed. But just how am I going to go about doing that, when he can just rejuvenate himself like he's been doing every time I hurt him? I wonder how that clown Kakarott would do in this situation..."*_

As soon as the thought of his rival entered his head, he bitterly shoved it away. Why should he care how Kakarott would do if he was in his shoes now? It wasn't as if he could fight Majin Buu any better than he could, especially now. Thanks to the power boost Babidi's curse had given him, he and Kakarott were finally equal in power. So it would stand to reason that if he couldn't destroy Majin Buu, than neither could his rival.

_*But you're wrong," _a part of his brain told him. _*If this had been Kakarott fighting off against Majin Buu, even if things started to look hopeless, he would eventually find some way to win. He always did.* _

Majin Vegeta gnashed his teeth, and then shoved the thought away. That was the main reason why he had knocked his rival unconscious before the fighting had started. He didn't want Kakarott saving the day this time...and saving him, even. No, this was his fight and his fight alone.

In the space of an instant, Buu's smile left his face, his eyes widening in fury.

"That hurt..." he declared. "...a bit."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, when Buu suddenly took a stance and crossed his arms over his chest. Buu hummed dangerously as he gathered a tremendous amount power, a pink halo appearing around him. The color of the sky changed from light blue to an ominous darker shade just like it had when he had been gearing up for his own attack. Babidi stared over at his Papa's creation in awed curiosity, wondering what Buu was about to pull out of his sleeve now.

Lifting his head, Majin Buu glared death at Vegeta.

"Why, you...!" he said, his furious voice a foreboding mix of his own and something much more sinister. "Why, you...!"

"T-This is bad!" Kuririn said dismayingly.

All around him, his wife and the others were equally unsettled by this.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" Babidi demanded, just as alarmed by this as his enemies were.

"Why, you...!" Majin Buu said to Vegeta again. "I HATE YOU!" Majin Buu howled, thrusting his arms into the air. The shield of power that surrounded him expanded outward into a large dome, and then exploded on itself.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	34. For The Sake of My Loved Ones

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but my own original characters.**

**Chapter Thirty-Four: For The Sake of My Loved Ones**

* * *

A thick cloud of smoke, dust, and rock fragments covered the battlefield, making seeing anything a near impossibility at the moment. Soon, things started to clear up again, gradually letting the sunlight back in. As if it thought the process was taking too long, a brisk wind abruptly came blowing into the area, dispersing the rest of the earth materials away. However, the damage Majin Buu had done to the area had then been revealed; a giant cavity now scarred the center of the terrain where Majin Buu had unleashed his furious attack, and every inch of the ground earth had been severely gnawed up.

High up in the air over the massive crater, Majin Buu hovered in a pose of victory. Suddenly, a green-yellowish bubble descended out of the sky, stopping just slightly below the Majin. Inside, Madoshi Babidi wore an expression of great alleviation.

"That was close!" he said.

The cliff where Juuhachi-gou and the others had been watching the battle from had also suffered in the wake of the Majin's attack, as it was now nothing more than a large mountain of rocks. The smoke begins to ebb away, and when it completely does, a familiar cloaked, green warrior rises back up to his feet, still in one piece.

"You guys, are you all right!" Piccolo called.

In immediate respone, a large rock blocking a crater in the ground was shoved away with authority, and standing within that crater was an annoyed looking Amara. Beside her, her husband was still shielding their daughter with his body. Realizing that they were still alive, Kuririn and Hoshi looked up at the same time.

"That was close!" Kuririn said.

"Mm-hm," Hoshi agreed, nodding.

Not too far away, a larger rock was suddenly splintered into pieces. When the smoke and dust cleared away, Juuhachi-gou was kneeling where the rock had been, her right fist still extended out from where she obviously broke the rock up with a single punch. In her left arm, she held Koji close to her from where she had protected him with her own body, which was also the reason why the small fighter was blushing in embarrassment.

"Um, I'm okay, Mama, so you can let go now," Koji assured her, silently hoping she got the message. Thankfully she did, as she released him to stand up.

Moments later, the two leaped down onto a lower ledge where the others were standing by.

"Where is Kakarott's son?" Amara inquired, immediately noticing Goten's absence.

"I thought someone was missing," Kuririn said in realization.

"Goten!" Juuhachi-gou called.

"Goten-kun!" Hoshi shouted.

Looking this way and that for the missing half-Saiyajin, Kuririn took a step forward. Then immediately stopped right there, as the fragile ground gave away to another crater in the ground. Kuririn stared into it curiously. Kneeling down, the diminutive fighter took a closer look to see if the missing Goten had fallen in. Momentarily, something shot up out of the darkness- something small, green and scaly that stood on four legs.

"Eeeeh!" Kuririn screamed, falling over backwards from surprise.

In the next instant, Goten erupted out the crater underneath the lizard, looking cheerful as usual. Both Koji and Hoshi laughed, while Amara rolled her eyes. Watching her son's best friend, Juuhachi-gou vaguely smiled.

"D-don't scare me like that, Goten!" Kuririn told him. His face twisted in irritation, as Goten ignored him, too busy sitting the lizard carefully onto the ground.

"Thank goodness, huh, lizard-san!" he said.

The lizard blinked up curiously at the boy twice, then tilted its head at him.

Meanwhile, Piccolo had long stopped paying attention to the others as something had occurred to him.

"Kaioushin-sama!" he bellowed. Cold sweat rolled down his face as he saw no signs of deity. Had he got caught by Majin Buu's blast?

"Eh? I don't see Vegeta, either!" Amara said. The dismay heard in her voice just then sent matching trills of alarm through Koji and even Juuhachi-gou, although she wouldn't admit it aloud.

Vegeta looked quite worse for wear, his breath coming out in slow, ragged pants. The upper right part of his spandex top had been torn from the explosion, as had the lower part of the left leg of his spandex pants, giving a clear, good view of magnificent muscles. But worse of all, his left arm had been severely injured; even now, blood rolled down from the cuts on his fractured arm, staining the ground. When a familiar noise reached his ears, Vegeta swore and his turquoise eyes cut skyward, grimacing furiously when he saw his pink, plump, adversary drifting in mid-air over him, doing a strange victory dance. Abreast to him, Babidi hung in mid-air inside his Barrier, flattering his pet beast with words of praise...

"D-damn it all!" Vegeta hissed, as he pulled himself up to his feet, taking a few steps forward before stopping. "How can this be! "Y-you're strong, on top of which, you're immortal- it's ridiculous! Dirty bastard!"

"Well, well!" Babidi laughed, finally lowering his shield. "You're a tough one, all right, Vegeta! To think you could survive such an impressive attack from Majin Buu! It's too bad you had to defy me, you would have made an excellent servant! What a shame!"

Although he didn't visibly respond, Majin Buu was regarding his current opponent with a uncharacteristic serious expression. It was quite a surprise to him that the hateful man in blue wasn't dead after all of that. Usually when he played so roughly with his enemies, that was the end of it, but even someone like Buu could see that there was something very different about this adversary.

"Hey, there's Vegeta!" Kuririn was telling the others, moments later after they moved to a cliff that had miraculously survived Majin Buu's assault, and also placed conveniently closer to the battle.

As soon as they fully noticed the condition the Saiyajin Prince was in, everyone was left put off at what they saw. Even if they were still a good distance away, they could all clearly see Vegeta holding his bloody and limp left arm. But no one looked as unsettled as Koji did. He had never seen his strong Papa in such a vulnerable state; he never even thought it was possible

"Papa..." Koji whispered, utter concern etched on his face.

Juuhachi-gou caught the expression on her son's face, then she returned her eyes onto his father. It was a surprise that she could feel anything toward him but cold contempt after what he said to her earlier...but given the situation, not even she could be indifferent to the horrible shape he was in. _*V-Vegeta...*_

"Even Vegeta is no match for him..." Piccolo whispered bleakly to himself. "Gohan is dead, and even Kaioushin, the legitimate ruler all over the universe, have been vaporized. W-what is to become of this?"

Standing between her husband and daughter, Amara shook with anger, feeling more powerless than she's ever had. She was a Super Saiyajin Two as well, however, she wasn't strong enough to help Vegeta. Even if he did want her help.

"Dammit! Are we really this helpless!" she wondered. "Can we do nothing but to wait for Majin Buu to come finish off?"

Hoshi was staring at her mother in shock; this was the first time in her life she had ever heard mother speak with such despair. It was daunting already that Vegeta-ojisan couldn't put the Majin away, and was now terribly injured. But to hear her mother speak that way...the gravity of the earnest situation they were in really sunk in.

"But wait!" Koji exclaimed, looking toward his aunt. "Papa...Papa can't lose, right? Not to the likes of that Majin!"

Amara said nothing, just continued to stare on in impotent rage. As Koji looked toward Piccolo, it was the same. Then, Koji finally looked toward his mother.

"Mama? Papa can't lose, right?" he asked. Juuhachi-gou glanced in her son's direction, but then immediately looked away. Koji stared at his mother in shock. "You...You think he's gonna lose, too?"

Juuhachi-gou still couldn't look his way or answer him. She hated that he had to be here to see this, but...but what else was she supposed to do? Lie and tell him that Vegeta could still win even in the state he was in, just so he could feel good? No, sugar-coating the situation wasn't going to help anybody.

Vegeta immediately put himself back on guard, as Majin Buu heavily alighted before him. His childly expression was gone one more, replaced by one of hate. Suddenly, Majin Buu raised his right hand to start waving goodby to his opponent.

"You die now," Buu declared. "Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye! Bye-bye!"

Vegeta glared back at the Majin powerlessly. _*W-what do I do? What the hell can I do to beat this monster!* _

In the subsequent moment, Vegeta's eyes widened when he saw his corpulent opponent suddenly clutch a part of the skin of his large stomach and ripped it off, the tear in his body was instantly refilled by more skin. Vegeta and the others on the cliff stared in stunned disgust. The Saiyajin no Ouji was further sickened, when Majin Buu stretched out the piece of skin.

"You creepy bastard!" Vegeta said disgustedly. "What are you doing? Are you toying me?"

Majin Buu responded by advancing forward, hopping on one foot to the other as he did so, while twirling the piece of skin and humming. Then, in the next moment, the Majin spat out a pink ki blast, and the place was standing exploded in a pink light, but the Prince was already up in the air. Majin Buu approached even closer, twirling his skin even faster. He then started spitting out a barrage of ki blasts. Vegeta evaded each.

"Is that all?" he mocked. "Hmph! I can avoid that scale of attack with my eyes closed!"

Due to his usual arrogance returning after being unimpressed with the Majin's attack, the Prince of Saiyajin didn't expect Majin Buu to suddenly fire out a Chou Makouhou.

"What!" Vegeta said in surprise. At the very last moment, Vegeta was able to avoid the attack by taking to the sky again.

Then a positively malefic grin split Majin Buu's face.

"Gotcha!" he boasted. He swiftly phased out of existence and then phased back in high over the earth... and over Vegeta.

It was a short second later when Vegeta realized that his enemy was right above him. He had immediately turned around to meet the beast head on like the true warrior he was, however, Buu had once again had him well-scouted. He seemed to have finally found use for the skin he was holding, when he flung it at his foe like a boomerang. Vegeta tried to move, but the skin had still caught him, wrapping around him tightly, hardening, effectively immoblizing him. Unable to marshal enough ki to stay up in the air, Vegeta fell out of the sky without grace and landed jarringly on the earth.

Everyone back on the cliff stared in horrified shock.

* * *

In Kosumo's mind, doing something as fidgeting was just undignified for her, though she still did a very faint imitation of something akin to fidgeting as she waited on the Council of Elders to reach a decision over her request. Whispering noises circled the stony room like a soft whirlwind as the Elders consulted privately with one another; listening to them as minutes flew by briefly made the Guardian of Cosmos want to forget all about dignity and actually fidget. She knew what she had just asked of them was a supremely high demand, but it was a needed measure- the only one she knew of- to take against Majin Buu.

Even now as she waited, she could still sense what was taking place back on Earth. She could still feel the battle raging on between Majin Buu and Majin Vegeta, and though the Ouji started out very strong in the fight, the Guardian could sense the seemingly even match becoming a no-chance affair for the prince, as she could feel Buu's power continously ascending, while Vegeta's did the opposite. However, most daunting of all was that she could longer sense Kaioushin's ki at all.

_*Please, be safe, Kaioushin-sama. They just have to grant me my request!* _she thought a bit anxiously. *_The safety of Earth and the rest of the universe depend on this. Surely they will be able to see that!*_

Kosumo raised her eyes when she suddenly heard a several rustling noises, looking up just in time to see the Elders straightening themselves in their chairs and turning their penetrating gazes directly on her. Apparently, they'd finally come to an agreement over her bespeak, but whether it was yes or no, she would soon find out. For a moment, she wished she could read their minds and know exactly what they would tell her before they even opened their mouths. However, she knew that was unfortunately impossible; after all, these people wouldn't be able to call themselves Elders if they couldn't do something so simple as block people from reading what they were thinking. Looking into their minds would be like trying to pierce through a brick wall, actually. She doubt even Kaioushin could, as the Elders have been around longer than any Kaioushin.

"Guardian Kosumo," began the Grand Elder. "In spite of how high, and unusual, your request is, the rest of the Elders and I have agreed on allotting you permission to use this particular weapon against Majin Buu. We remember all too well the chaos and despair that horrible monster wreaked onto the universe eons ago, and we do not wish to see such a terrible thing happened ever again. So, hold out your hands."

As ordered, the deity extended out her hands. Secretly, she was numb from head-to-toe with relief and joy that the Elders had saw things her way. Had it not been for the great amount of dignity she possessed, she might have been jumping and whooping in jubilance right now.

In the next instant, the Grand Elder raised his own hand and fired a white energy beam straight at the Guardian of Cosmos. The beam landed directly in her outstretched hands, and as it did so, the light started to solidify and elongate in her palms until it turned itself into a crystal that was almost twice as large as her slender hands. It was pure silver in color, gleaming softly in the room, circular in shape at the top but near the bottom it narrowed into a slender point. However, the crystal itself wasn't what she had requested for. It was the two pieces of jewellery resting in the two niches on the crystal's top surface, two magnificently crafted gold rings, one clutching a purple gem and the other a green one, sparkling just as beautifully as the crystal that held it was.

She raised her gaze back towards the Council of Elders.

"Thank you Grand Elder-sama. Thank all of you," she said, bowing towards all of the robed beings reverently.

"Thanks is not needed," a different Elder corrected her. It was the one on the far left from the Grand Elder, and that Elder had had the voice of a young male. "Just use our weapon accordingly, and stop Majin Buu to avoid a repeat of last time."

Kosumo bowed once more, both in assurance and farewell. Turning, Kosumo took her leave.

* * *

Majin Buu didn't make Vegeta's predicament any more promising, when he allowed him to drop out of the air and land squarely atop of the warrior with his full weight, extracting a painful cry from his ensnared opponent, and as well as a few sprays of blood from his mouth. Majin Buu's childly expression contorted into pure malice as he lashed out at the Prince, delivering a violent chain of left-right-left-right blows to his already bruised face.

"Th-this is bad!" Picoclo said grimly.

"Vegeta's going to be killed!" Kuririn realized. "What in the hell happened to Goku and Gohan! Unless...T-they aren't already dead, are they?"

They never noticed the simultaneous widening in Amara's and Juuhachi-gou's eyes at the question, for the two women knew exactly what had happened to them.

"Y-you think my Big Brother would die!" Goten demanded angrily.

"Khhh! I don't know how longer I can just stand there watching this!" Amara growled, her body shaking with barely contained rage.

Everyone abruptly turned when a bright light flared into existence on the cliff. They all looked just in time to see a furious Koji take off and make a beeline straight towards his father and Majin Buu.

"Koji! Dame da!" Juuhachi-gou shouted, but she was completely ignored.

That settled it for the blonde Jinzouningen. Rising to her feet, she kicked herself off the ground and flew after her son and his friend.

"I wanna go help, too!" Hoshi said, turning Super Saiyajin as well. Beside her, Kuririn let out a cry of disapproval.

"Oh, the hell you are, young lady!" he said sternly, clamping a hand down on her shoulder to prevent her from going anywhere.

"But Papa-"

"But Papa nothing!" Kuririn sharply cut off her protest, missing the look of veiled approval Piccolo gave him. "You're not going anywhere! Amara would chew me up and spit me out if I let you go down there where that monster is. So you're staying right here!"

For a moment, Hoshi glared at her father, looking like a petulant childlike version of her mother. But Kuririn matched her glare for glare, never wavering. Finally, the young girl had relented and powered down, though still looked sulky. Kuririn gave a unmistakable sigh of relief.

High up in the air, Babidi was thoroughly enjoying what he was seeing. _*Yes, that fool Vegeta will serve as a shining example to his little friends that I am the new King of this World, and I am not to be de-huh!*_

The Madoshi's thoughts had been suddenly interrupted, when a streak of gold flame came shooting passed him with no regard.

"What!" Babidi exclaimed.

A second later, another gold flame shot passed him from his left side. "Wh-what is this!"

Another second later, a something zoomed passed him so quickly, it made the warlock spin around a couple of times, making him dizzy. "Wh-wha...what was that now!"

Below, Majin Buu was still having fun Vegeta, now stopping on him repeatedly. But just then-

"HYAAAAA!"

"Hn?" Majin Buu said, looking up when he heard a new voice from above him, only to be kicked hard in the face by an angry, blue-eyed, gold-haired boy. The blow sent the Majin flying through a stand of mesas before landed with an explosive crash.

"Uncle!" Goten shouted, as he was already beginning to undo the skin wrapped around his friend's father.

"Papa!" Koji shouted, helping as well. Within a couple of moments, the two had Vegeta freed.

"Will he be all right?" Goten asked Koji, concerned.

"Don't worry, my Papa won't be done in by a guy like that!" Koji answered with strong certainty. "My father is the Saiyajin Prince, so he'll be just fine."

Goten goggled at his friend."Nanda? You're dad is a…Prince? The Prince of all the Saiyajin"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?" Koji replied. Goten shook his head no. "You really didn't know? So that also means you don't know that Hoshi's mom is the Saiyajin Princess?"

"What!" Goten exclaimed, confirming to his friend that hadn't known that either.

"Who are those pipsqueaks?" Babidi wondered. "Did Vegeta have more companions hanging around? Well, no matter. The result will be the same no matter how many of those guys show up!"

_"KOJI!" _

Koji cringed at the sound of his name being called with such fury. He knew his mother's voice when she was angry, all right, but she had never sounded like that before. He turned to see what she wanted.

Then Juuhachi-gou walked forward and slapped him.

"Koji-kun!" Goten gasped, shocked.

Hearing the sound of the strike all the way up on the cliff, Hoshi and Kuririn stared in equal shock.

Juuhachi-gou was still glaring down at her son, panting heavily with emotion. Koji stared back at his mother, holding the side of his face where she hit him, looking shocked, bewildered, and hurt all at the same time. Outside of sparring with each other, this was the first time his mother had really _hit _him.

"You idiot! What do you think you're doing?" Juuhachi-gou shouted angrily. "Are you trying to get yourself killed? What makes you think you can do anything to stop Majin Buu when your father can't!"

"But...But he's my Papa, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!" Koji replied. "Don't you feel the same way, Mama? He's your husband, right?

Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened at the question. In the following silence, Vegeta suddenly stirred and coughed.

"Papa!" "Uncle!" Koji and Goten cheered at the same time...

"K-koji..." he rasped through bloodied lips. His slightly unfocused eyes briefly landed on him and Goten, before he became aware of another familiar presence standing near him on the other side. He looked sidelong and saw her looking back at him with a impassive expression. "Juuhachi-gou..."

Vegeta tried to sit back up, but was having difficulties. Seeing this, Koji helped his father up to a sitting position. But proud as ever, Vegeta shoved him away, though mildly. The prince immediately looked around for the whereabouts of Buu.

"What happened to him?" he demanded.

"Koji kicked him away, but it won't be long before Buu recovers," Juuhachi-gou supplied, while her husband was standing back up to his feet.

_*Koji...kicked him away?* _Vegeta thought in surprise, glancing over at their son.

"Vegeta, we have to escape now," Juuhachi-gou said with urgency in her voice. "None of us is a match for this Majin Buu; not even if we worked together! If we stay here, we'll all just end up dying miserably!"

Vegeta made no visible response, however, the trepidation he heard in his mate's voice spoke volumes to him.

* * *

Babidi sneered down at the scene below.

"So, that Vegeta is able to stand up again," he said. "Too bad, it would have made things much easier for you if you had just died already. You're such a fool! My Majin Buu is indestructible! You'll be killed togther with your woman, along those two pipsqueaks!" Babidi laughed at it all.

"Majin Buu is horrible enough," came a voice.

Babidi stopped laughing, froze in place, his eyes widening even more.

"...but you're the most horrible one of all, Babidi," the voice added in frigid anger.

The evil mage whirled around, and his eyes widened in alarmed when he saw the imposing green warrior looming over him like a giant.

"Y-you...!" Babidi squealed. He then grinned arrogantly. "You're as pallid as ever, aren't you? You're green!" Babidi turned around to fully face the Namekseijin. "Of course, it comes as no surprise, since you've surely seen the strength of my Majin Buu for your own eyes! So for you to be gree in the face is only natural, you know!"

"Idiot, my face is naturally this color," Piccolo retorted. "Don't get so full of yourself, you lowly Madoshi!"

"W-what did you say!" Babidi asked, affronted, his fists clenched. "How dare you speak to me like that! Just for that, I'll have Majin Buu kill you in the most painful way there is!"

Piccolo smirked evilly. "Sounds like fun, but I'll have to decline. I can't allow you to use Majin Buu and have your way."

"Nani!" Babidi demanded. "You think you can stop me? What nonsense!"

"Majin Buu may be too much for me to handle, but I know I could kill you!" Piccolo replied confidently.

Babidi gasped in horror.

"HAAAAAA!" Piccolo shouted, lashing out at the warlock with his sharp claws.

"BARRIER!" Babidi screamed urgnetly, thrusting his hands out. Instantly, his shield rose up around him, and just in time to save him from the green warrior's swipe.

"Dammit!" Piccolo swore.

Babidi cackled "How about that!" he crowed. "I can manage a little, too, you know!"

Piccolo looked far more annoyed than impressed.

"PAPARAPAPA!" shouted the evil mage. But instead of teleporting Piccolo away like the command would normally, this time he flung a slimy substance at the Namekseijin, the slime discharging green electricity.

Staring down at both arms, Piccolo impassively watched both his arms start to expand uncontrollably. Babidi laughed in triumph, thinking the victory was his. But to his shock, Piccolo negated his attack with a kiai, his arms returning back to normal.

Babidi gawped in disbelief. Usually when he did that, it worked. Staring up into the face of the Namekseijin fighter, Babidi was starting to think more than ever that he would need Majin Buu to finish this one off. Acting fast, Babid spun and flew down to the ground.

"Majin Buu!" he called. "Buu! Majin Buu! What are you doing! This one! Kill this one!"

Babidi jumped when heard someone alight on the ground behind him. Swirling, he saw that it was Piccolo again. Quickly, Babidi brought up his Barrier around him.

Piccolo stalked towards Babidi, and Babidi backed away.

"Are you sure you're able to kill me?" he asked.

The warlock squeaked as Piccolo charged at him again, lashing out at Babidi's shield, gritting his teeth as he tried to penetrate through the hindrance. Babidi was starting to get desperate. If he didn't do something quickly, he really was going to killed!

"F-fool! If you kill me, then what about Majin Buu?" Babidi asked. "Without me, you can never seal him up again!"

Piccolo said nothing, as he continued to try press Babidi's bubble inward. He was starting to succeed.

"I-if that happens, Majin Buu will destroy the whole universe until there's nothing left!" Babidi pointed out. "Will you really be okay with that!"

"The same holds true even if you aren't dead!" Piccolo countered. "Am I wrong?"

With those last words, Piccolo broke through Babidi's barrier. The warlock's already wide eyes doubled, as he jumped away in fear. He immediately took to the air, however, a second later, Piccolo appeared right behind him. Sensing him, Babidi looked up over his shoulder in terror.

"Die!" Piccolo snarled fiercely, then he lashed out at the warlock with his razor-sharp claws, severing lower body and left arm off.

"This can't be!" wailed the dismembered Madoshi, as he and his severed body parts plummeted dismally out of the sky. "I was supposed to be the king of the world!" Following those last words, Babidi fell miserably into the gaping crater made from Buu's earlier attack.

Piccolo stared down at the dead warlock in cold satisfaction. At least in this way, he was still able to avenge Gohan's death, even if he couldn't kill his actual murderer.

Floating even higher in the sky over Piccolo, Amara regarded the Namekseijin with a look of approval.

* * *

Elsewhere, just moments after his master's demise, a pile of rocks shifted, and Majin Buu's head rose out into view. Buu decided that he would find the person who did this to him, and play roughly with them before killing them very painfully. The Majin took a moment to spit out some rocks that had got in his mouth and shake the rocks off his head. Then, with a kiai, he effortlessly.

He looked this way and that for that mean person.

"Who did it!" Buu demanded angrily. "Who made this happen to me!"

Having a wider view of the area, Piccolo and Amara could easily see the commotion going on where Majin Buu had been depositied earlier. Below, Juuhachi-gou, Koji, and Goten were staring in that direction as well, however, Vegeta was looking upward at his sister and Piccolo.

At long last, Vegeta spoke again, but his words were bewildering. "Juuhachi-gou...Koji...I want you two to take good care of each other."

Both his mate and son looked his way at once.

"You want us to take good care of each other?" Koji repeated, puzzled. "But Papa, what about you? Where are you going?"

Beside the young prince, his mother stared at his father in a mixture of shock and disbelief. She understood right away what Vegeta had meant, but just couldn't believe what he was actually suggesting on doing. Though as she saw that trademark smirk of his slide across his face, Juuhachi-gou knew right then and there that his mind was made up.

When Vegeta had finally looked back in her direction, Juuhachi-gou was quietly stunned to see an uncharacteristic, gentle expression on his face beneath the blood and bruises. His eyes then wandered from her onto Koji, giving him an appraising look

"Come here, son," he beckoned after a moment.

With a dubious expression, Koji obediently did as he was told, just like he always did whenever his father gave him an order. When Koji had reached his father, he really hadn't known what to expect, however, he certainly hadn't been expecting for his stern father to wrap him up in a hug with his uninjured arm. While Koji stood awkwardly stunned in his father's embrace, Juuhachi-gou and Goten goggled at the two. Neither of them were all that used to seeing Vegeta associating affections towards his son.

Vegeta chuckled at his son. "_What pride he has, just like his mother and me,"_ he commented approvingly. And then, right before he unexpectedly reached out and chopped his son on the side of his neck, he'd sent a telepathic message to him.

_"I'm proud of you, my son."_

Those were the last words the blue-eyed boy had heard, before Vegeta released him and allowed him to collapse onto the ground, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as slipped into a state of unconsciousness, his hair turned black again and his Super Saiyajin aura vanished. While Juuhachi-gou gasped softly after witnessing her son get knocked out by his father, Goten let out a concerned cry and immediately rushed over to check on him.

Vegeta toward the sky, where he saw both his sister and Piccolo gaping down at him.

"Koji-kun! Koji-kun! Wake up!" Goten shouted, shaking his friend. But Koji was out like a light. Realizing this, Goten shot Vegeta an angry glare, looking nearly on the verge of tears.

"What did you do that for, huh, Ojisan?" Goten yelled, rising back to his feet and stomping over towards the Saiyajin Prince, looking like a mirror image of his father whenever he got upset.

Vegeta glared back at Goten, before he suddenly crouched down and delivered a swift punch to the half-Saiyajin's gut. Goten's eyes widened and began staggering backwards as all the air was knocked out of him and overwhelming pain surged through him. Momentarily, his Super Saiyajin aura faded away and his hair and eyes both turned black again, prior to him passing out right alongside his unconscious friend.

Vegeta regarded the two unconscious boys briefly, before his eyes had finally turned towards Juuhachi-gou. He saw her staring back at him with a flabbergasted expression on her face, which quickly mutated into anger.

"Vegeta, what do you think you're doing?" Juuhachi-gou demanded, after finding her voice again. "And why are you doing this? Why are you trying to give up your life for the sake of us? For me? I thought I meant nothing to you?" she spat bitterly.

The acrimony Vegeta had just heard in his mate's voice had been unmistakable. He chuckled softly.

"You impossible woman. You actually believed me?" he asked.

Juuhachi-gou gave him an "wasn't I supposed to" look.

He chuckled again. Normally, he would never say the words he was about to say now, but since he was going to die…and since it would probably be the last time they ever saw each other…he would ignore his pride.

Never across a million galaxies had he ever imagine himself being mated to a cyborg of all people and having a family with her. He started having flashbacks of the time they first met and clobbered the hell out of one other until she picked up the victory, sparking what little attraction he had for her, but never admitted it. What he liked about her most was that fire in her cold, china, blue eyes. By no means would a woman dare lay a hand on him or talk the way she did to him, knowing he'd kill them on spot, but Juuhachi-gou, she never backed down no matter how stronger he was than her now. She would have made a great Saiyajin; no one would be able to equal her

"I…lied. Forgive me...for everything."

Juuhachi-gou found herself gawping at Vegeta again. In all the seven years they'd been together, he'd never once bothered asking her forgiveness for every time he made her mad. And she was really starting to become uncomfortable when she saw the look he was giving her, gentle and loving.

"Vegeta, you're starting to actually scare me now," she said uneasily.

It was due to her baffled state, that she hadn't been prepared when Vegeta suddenly gripped her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her. As she stood frozen, utterly shocked, ki flared underneath Vegeta's gloved hands and tendrils of electricity started to cover her entire body. Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened and she tried to cry out from this feeling between pain and gentle, but it was swallowed by her lover's kiss. All of a sudden, her whole system shut down. The last thing she saw before became unconscious as well, was a mixed look of regret and joy flickering in Vegeta's eyes.

Back on the cliff, Kuririn and Hoshi watched the scene in stupor, not understanding what was going on.

Unlike with Koji and Goten, Vegeta hadn't allowed Juuhachi-gou to hit the ground just yet. He quickly caught her just as she was beginning to fall, her head landed neatly on his shoulder, which prompted him to wrap an arm around her. He closed his eyes as he embraced her. She felt so warm, supple and fragile in his arms, despite the strength he knew she possessed. It was hard for him to ever believe that he had ever thought she felt like cold metal. He wished he could hug her more properly, but he could only do he best he could with just one arm. For the briefest of moments, the corner of his mouth curled ironically as he recalled how she'd injured this same arm seven years ago. But then he quickly dispelled the memory with a shake of his head. He wouldn't think of that anymore, especially now.

_I...I'll miss you, Juuhachi-gou. _

Sensing two kis , Vegeta reopened his eyes to see both his sister and Piccolo land in front of him. He'd had no idea they'd even been standing there, or for how long. He then scowled defiantly at the pair, daring them to try and taunt him if they had seen his emotional display with his family.

They didn't.

"Brother..." Amara started.

She moved her mouth to stay something else, however, the words froze at the edge of her mouth when she, her brother, and Piccolo heard heavy footsteps approaching, accompanied by an all-too familiar humming. The three immediately looked around to see Majin Buu ambling back toward them, that deceptively childish smile plastered on his face again.

Not too faraway, Majin Buu came to a stop, glaring at the three.

"Who was it that just hit me now!" he demanded immediately.

"Get these three faraway from here, now," Vegeta said seriously. "I don't want them anywhere close by for what I'm about to do."

Without needing to be asked, Piccolo accepted the unconscious Juuhachi-gou into his arms, as Vegeta handed her over to him. The Namekseijin missed the slight shudder that went through him as Juuhachi-gou was taken away from his embrace…probably forever. Meanwhile, Amara bent down to gather her nephew and Goten under either arm, standing back to full height once she had them secured.

Facing the direction where Majin Buu was, Vegeta said, "I'm counting on you two, sister and Piccolo."

Amara and Piccolo both turned to face the Prince with grave expressions.

"You're really going through with this, aren't you?" Amara asked. She received no answered. She glanced down at Koji, then over Juuhachi-gou. She then looked back to her brother. "All just for them...even at the cost of your own life?..." A small smirk touched the corners of her lips. "I guess you really are Father's son, after all."

Before Vegeta could ask her what she mean, Amara turned around and rocketed away with her two unconscious passengers. Piccolo was about to turn to do the same thing, when-

"Piccolo," Vegeta said, making the Namekseijin stop. There was a pause, and during which, Majin Buu was starting to amble towards them. "When I get to the Other Side, will I see him- Kakarott?"

"At a time like this, I can only be honest with you," Piccolo replied. There was another pause. "It's impossible. You've killed too many innocent people, so when you die, your body will return become nothing. You will be carried to a different world from Goku, where you spirit will be cleansed and memories erased, and you will be changed into a new life form."

Vegeta didn't respond right away, thinking over what Piccolo just said for a long moment. Then he sighed, closing his eyes in resignation.

"Is that so?" he asked. "Too bad."

Majin Buu was getting closer and closer.

"That's enough, get going," Vegeta told him. "And hurry!"

"Yeah." Turning around, Piccolo took off with the unconscious Juuhachi-gou in a burst of white fire, and just in time for Majin Buu had finally arrived.

"Look here! I won't let you get away!" Buu declared, his large right hand extended out.

"Hold it, Majin Buu!" Vegeta bellowed, successfully gaining the Majin's attention. "If you can get through me, then you can take them on! Got that, you ugly balloon scum!"

That insult literally left Majin Buu steaming.

"You wimp! I want let you say anything bad about me again!" he vowed. He steamed again, and again. "You're a smart-aleck!"

* * *

Back on the ledge, Kuririn and his daughter were both surprised to see Piccolo and Majin Amara come flying over them at top speed, with the former carrying a comatose blonde woman and the latter carrying two unconscious boys on her shoulders.

"Mama!" Hoshi called questioningly.

"Don't just stand there you two, hurry!" Amara called down to them.

"We're getting out of here!" Piccolo added.

Confused as to what was going on, father and daughter quickly obliged.

"You die, right now!" Majin Buu decided as he approached Vegeta closer. When Vegeta responded with a cocky grin, Buu let out more steam of annoyance. "I'm really mad, you know!"

"At last, I've finally figured out how to put you away," Vegeta said, his voice full of confidence.

"Eh?" Majin Buu responded, not expecting such words.

"H-hey!" Kuririn called over to his wife and Piccolo, as he and Hoshi caught up to them. "What's going on here? Like that, there's no question he'll be killed, right?"

"This is Vegeta's choice," Piccolo said gravely. "For the first time, he's about to fight for someone other than himself, as he lays his life on the line."

The grimace on Amara's face tightened.

The area had darkened considerably, amidst it Vegeta shone like a brilliant star as he stood within a sphere surrounded in golden flames. His eccentric foe paid no heed it, however, nor did he pay any heed to the dangerous grin on his face.

Majin Buu flashed a malicious smile at the glowing man.

"You're still so weak!" Buu sneered. "Should I turn you into choco and eat'cha? Or maybe into a cheese cracker?"

Vegeta grinned. "In order to defeat you, I'm going to make sure you can't rejuvenate yourself, by blowing you into tiny bits!"

Majin Buu was so taken aback by that declaration that his eyes flew open. Suddenly, buts of ki started to gather around Majin Buu, and he noticed it with a look of bewilderment. Realizing that Vegeta was the cause of this, the Majin stared at him in shock, and for the first time since he could remember a true sense of danger hit him.

As Majin Vegeta was about to unleash his fury onto Majin Buu, his expression when soft and reflective briefly looked back on the family he was about to leave behind. _*Farewell...Juuhachi-gou...Koji...Amara...and you too, Kakarott!* _

Aloud, he shouted: "Prepare for ultimate death, Majin Buu!"

Those were the last words Vegeta said. In the next moment, the prince let out a drawn-out scream, as he summoned up every inch of ki in his body, and released it in a searing, monumental explosion of power. Majin Buu let out a horrid shriek before he'd been absorbed by the Saiyajin Prince's attack, and instantly vaporized into oblivion.

Seeing the growth of the light behind her out the corner of her eye, and as well as feeling a familiar ki diminish, Majin Amara stopped in her flight and turned around. Her eyes growing wide as she watched the energy- energy that was Majin Vegeta himself, climb higher and higher towards the darkened sky. She couldn't stop herself, when his name came screaming out of her mouth.

"VEGETA!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	35. The Nightmare Continues

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ, but my own original characters.**

**Chapter Thirty-Five: The Nightmare Continues**

* * *

For a long time, the energy released from Vegeta's attack climbed higher and higher into the air, reaching towards the bottom of the sky...

And then it exploded.

KHHHHBBBOOOOMMMMM!

The result was instant and tremendous. Raw, incredible waves of concussive ki rolled furiously all over the planet. Anyone or anything that got caught in its grip was either destroyed or flung around violently.

Being so close to all the chaos, Piccolo and his small group had took most of the brunt of the explosion's backlash. The Namekseijin swore loudly, as a blast wave washed over him, aggressively shoving him backwards. He nearly dropped the comatose Juuhachi-gou, however, he quickly tightened his grip on her, and continued to whether the fierce storm.

Abreast of him, Amara understood exactly how he felt. She too was trying to resist the shockwaves, while at the same time trying to drop Goten and Koji.

"Waggggghhhhh!" Kuririn shouted, as he suddenly came somersaulting past them both.

"Kuririn!" "Papa!" Piccolo, Amara and Hoshi shouted at the same time.

With a determined look, Hoshi transformed and flew after her father at top speed. She caught up to him within moments and caught him tightly by his right ankle, holding him in place. Imperceptibly, a look of relief colored Amara's features, before she quickly put back on her usual expression of annoyance like a shield.

"Don't worry, Papa. I got you!" Hoshi called to her father reassuringly. Kuririn smiled gratefully up at his daughter, though beneath his smile he was straining- understandably so when his very strong daughter had a very tight grip around his ankle, which he feared she might accidentally crush.

"T-thanks musume-chan!" he called back.

* * *

The clouds seemed to still in mid-air that late afternoon, almost as if sensing the prominent danger the planet was currently in. The passengers aboard a certain Capsule Corporation plane paid no attention to the behavior of the clouds, however, as they had more pressing matters to contend to.

Inside the aircraft, a thoughtful, grim silence hung over the passengers like a cloud, each person wrapped up tightly in their respective thoughts. When one was as wonted to the craziness that came to being the friends and family of a bunch of superpowered fighters as this group was, they didn't let something like three of their own turning over to the evil side and killing numerous innocent people keep them down for long.

Just as soon as she had regained her composure and her wits, Bulma, just like she always does in grim situations, opted to take immediate action. She had suggested to the others that they all go out and search for the Dragonballs, so that they could bring back all the people Vegeta and Amara had killed back at the Tenkaichi Tournament. So, after a quick trip home to retreive the Dragon Radar, the gang were on their way on a dragonball hunt. They had made surprisingly good time. Within a matter of just well over a couple of hours, they had managed to locate five of the mystical Dragonballs and were now on their way to find the last two.

Her blue brows were knitted across as she clicked the button on the Dragon Radar, trying to get a fix on the next orb. She had to do it all with one hand as Bra had fallen asleep in her right arm. Beside her, Yamucha silently steered the plane, and everyone else sat just as quietly in the back, including Videl. They met up with the daughter of the World Champion on their way to Capsule Corp; when they had told her about what had happend back at the tournament and what they were about to do, Videl had wanted to join them. In return, she had told them about what Kibito had told her and Gohan of the evil Madoshi Babidi and his ambition to revive an awful creature name Majin Buu. The Z-Gang had listened with quiet realization of just what was going on.

_*So, it had been the fault of this Babidi character that Vegeta-san and Amara-san had murdered all those people,*_ Bulma concluded. Though, she still didn't look all at that joyful about the conclusion. *_I guess I should be relieved that they were under a spell, because for a second...I had actually thought they had become evil. Well, technically, I don't even know if Amara-san ever was on the side of evil before today, but with her being a Saiyajin, she probably was pretty wild before she settled down with Kuririn. Though, as for Vegeta-san and Juuhachi-gou-san...*_

She knew all-too well that the two of them hadn't always lived the tranquil lives they've been doing for the past seven years. It seemed almost yesterday that Vegeta had come to Earth with Nappa to kill all the humans and Goku, then sell the planet to a high bidder; it also seemed the same length to her when Juuhachi-gou's own son had come from the future seven years ago, to warn them all of the arrival of his mother and his uncle, and the bleak future they would bring to Earth if they weren't stopped in this time.

Even if she hadn't been close to the blonde woman back when Vegeta and Amara and the others had reappeared during the Seinor Division, she could still see those cold, inhuman blue eyes of the Jinzouningen. It had made her shivered. Is that what poor Mirai Koji had to contend with everyday back in his world? She wondered how he and her future self were doing now...

Bulma shook her head. Now was not the time to be getting distracted. She and the others had to find the last Dragonball hastily, and ask Shenlong to revive them. Sensing his wife's thoughts, Yamucha placed his hand on Bulma's knee, telling her silently that everything was going to be right once more and she looked up at him and gave him a grateful smile.

In the backseat of the aircraft, Videl sat next to Chichi, her expression trapped between worry and guilt. Why didn't she stop Koji, Goten and Hoshi from going where Gohan and the other adults were? It was dangerous and she knew it, however like a idiot she let them go off, anyway. And what about Gohan? Was he okay?

_*Of course he's all right!* _she thought stubbornly. *_After all, Gohan-kun defeated Cell! So I bet he can be this Majin Buu guy, too!*_

Confident in her quiet belief, she turned her thoughts off Gohan and the kids and looked down over at the partially-opened bag sitting abreast to her. Inside them sat five shimmering, golden orbs, each decorated with different-numbered red stars.

"Are you all serious when you say a dragon comes out once you gather all seven of these things?" she asked. The daughter of the World Champion was one of the simple sorts; she didn't believe a thing until she saw it with her own two eyes.

"I know this might seem impossible to you, Videl-san," Bulma said, glancing back at the teenager, "but once we track down the last Dragonball, you'll see that Shenlong is as real as any of us."

"I sure hope Goku-san and boys are all right." Chichi sighed heavily. She had always hated whenever her husband ran into battle and dragged Gohan into it, but she hated it twice as much now that Goten was with them. "Videl-chan, why didn't you stop the children? It was pretty irresponsible of you to let them fly off into danger like that. Who knows what could what's happen to them."

Videl lowered her head in shame.

"You're right, Chichi-san," she answered guiltily. "I'm so ashamed."

"You shouldn't blame her, Chichi," Yamucha said from upfront, feeling moved to defend the guilt-stricken teenager. "You know as well as I do they wouldn't have listen to her. The Saiyajin blood that flows through thrives for danger like this."

"I suppose you're right," Chichi answered somewhat reluctantly, resting her chin on her fists. "But with Vegeta, Amara, and Juuhachi-gou acting strange, I'm afraid something bad could have happen to Goku and the boys."

In the seat next to Chichi and Videl, Muten Roshi seemed more focused on the scenery outside as he'd been staring out the window at it for several minutes now, his white brows furrowed together. His gaze stretched out to a distant place that he couldn't see, but could sense...and he didn't like what he was sensing. Something wicked and sinister was looming out there- no, in the very air around them as well- a feeling that made him chill to his very old bones. He hadn't felt so tense since Cell showed up. Whatever he was feeling would probably mean the end of all life on Earth-

"Uh, guys...I'd think you'd better take a look up ahead of us!" Yamucha exclaimed suddenly. Whatever he saw made him sound quite nervous.

The others stared out into the distance as requested, and immediately understood just why exactly Yamucha had sounded so nervous. In the distant, a huge swirl of golden light loomed ahead of them like a strange storm, accentuated with peals of lightning. The group goggled at it.

Chichi blinked. "W-what in the world is that!"

"Hmm," Muten Roshi said, the crease in his brows deepening as his finely-tuned senses searched out for the cause of the strange disturbance. Then, solemnly he said, "It's the aftermath of a huge explosion somewhere, that's what it is."

The others gave him stunned looks.

"An explosion?" Bulma repeated, looking horrified. "I wonder who caused it?"

There was a brief pause aboard the ship. Then Chichi gasped loudly in alarm and stood out of her seat.

"Oh, no! What if it was Goku and the others that caused it?" she blurted. "You know how rowdy they all can get whenever they get into a fight. And Gohan and Goten were right along with them..." Chichi trailed off, paling as her mind thought of all the horrible possibilities that came from the explosion Muten Roshi had spoke of, and all of them involved her two sons.

Videl had caught the older woman's expression and immediately looked away, feeling even more guilty.

"Oh, now Chichi, honey, don't worry yourself so much," Ox King said soothingly, trying to calm his daughter down.

"What do you mean don't worry!" Chichi snapped, making her gigantic father flinch. "Dad, how do you expect for me to react when both my sons are Dende-knows-where, probably getting into all kinds of trouble?"

In the next instant, one of the bolts of lightning strayed away from the golden luminance. It shot across the sky like a hissing serpent as it made its way straight toward the Capsule Corp plane. Not even noticing what happened, the passengers weren't able to move out of the way in time, and were struck. More importantly, it struck one of their engines, which instantly detonated. A general outcry filled the inside of the plane as it was violently jolted. The harsh movement caused Yamucha to momentarily lose his grip on the wheel, causing the ship to go flying off course in zigzag motion, which in turn woke Bra up, who instantly burst into tears; Bulma tried to soothe their frightened daughter, but didn't have much luck. The explosion had knocked Chichi back into her seat and onto Videl; Oolong and Puar nearly fell out of their seats, while the Ox King and Master Roshi both did fall out of theirs and into the isle, unfortunately with the latter hitting the floor first and the much heavier former falling atop of him.

"Oops! Gomen nasai, Kamesennin-sama!" the Ox King apologized sincerely, as he got off the now flatten Master Roshi. The Ox King reached down and grabbed the Turtle Hermit and stood him onto his feet. "Are you okay Roshi!"

Muten Roshi groaned. "When this is all over, remind me to place you on a diet, Ox King!".

"Man, that was some ride!" Oolong groaned as he straightened himself in his seat, feeling a bit disoriented.

"I'll say!" Puar agreed.

"Oh, calm down, sweetie. It'll be alright," Bulma was crooning to her wailing daughter, but Bra was still very much shook up. When all else had failed, Bulma decided to take her frustrations out on her husband. "Yamucha! Stop that and drive straight, dammit!"

"But honey, I'm trying to do the best that I can!" Yamucha protested as he fumbled with the controls. "Especially considering that we have only one engine left to work with."

As soon as those words left his mouth, another lightning bolt lashed out at them. It struck the second plane engine and it exploded, too, making the plane jerk wildly again.

"Uh, make that we no engines to work with now!" Yamucha shouted.

Then the plane took a nose dive. Everybody screamed more than ever with panic and fright as they made a steady, dangerous course straight toward a dense forest below them, knowing they were heading for certain doom.

As Yamucha looked up, something darted by in front of the plane swiftly. His eyes brows raised.

_*What was that?* _he wondered. It had happened so fast, he couldn't make out what it was.

While he was pondering what it was he just saw, the plane suddenly jerked again. Though strangely enough, right afterwards, their breakneck descent slowed to a halt and the plane leveled back out. Everyone lifted their heads, looking around in confusion.

"W-what happened?" Bulma asked.

"Somehow or another, we're still heading towards the ground but we're not going to crash," Muten Roshi said, mystified as he was staring out the window, and the others were looking out the window as well, watching as the plane was miraculously lowering down into a forest.

In the next moment, the plane came to a halt, but still didn't touch the ground. That was taken care of a second later, when the plane was carefully placed down. Feeling the solid land underneath them, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and thanked whatever force that had just saved them all from death just then. And Bulma thanked that same higher being for Bra finally settling down.

Abruptly, the Dragon Radar started beeping.

"Huh?" Bulma said, looking down at the radar. Her expression lit up. "Hey, you guys! According to the radar, the next Dragonball is just right outside."

"And while you guys are looking for the Dragonball, I repair the engines," Yamucha said.

"I still don't understand how we were able to survive that crash like that," Videl was saying moments later, as everyone was preparing to head off the plane.

The door to the plane lifted open, however, they didn't even walk out onto the first step, as most of them were stopped from surprise. There was someone standing outside in front of them, dressed in a blue coat wearing a red bandanna. He had shoulder-length, black hair and all-too familiar catlike, blue eyes.

"You!" Bulma gasped.

"J-Juunana-gou!" Yamucha exclaimed.

The cyborged man smirked, obviously amused. He noticed the Dragon Radar in her hand.

"I take it this is what you've come for?" Following that question, Juunana-gou lifted up his left hand, revealing a Dragonball sitting in his palm.

* * *

When what seemed like an eternity had passed by, the backfire of Vegeta's final attack had at last come to a still. The vicious air currents caused by the shockwaves had gradually toned back down into gentle breezes and the planet had ceased shivering. Shafts of sunlight began piercing through the dark sky; first one by one, next three-by-three, and then in so many numbers that it wasn't long before that the sky had been changed back to light blue, ushering back in the clouds and sun. It was as if someone had went over the sky with an invisible paint brush and changed the colors back to normal in one stroke. However, over the area where the incredible explosion had originated, a large dark cloud still remained.

From afar, Amara, Kuririn, Hoshi, and Piccolo gazed at it all in equal grim silence.

"Vegeta's ki..." Piccolo spoke somberly, closing his eyes in quiet mourning. "It's completely vanished."

"Oh, poor Koji-kun," Hoshi murmured, looking sympathetically down at her unconscious cousin. She knew how much he loved his father, and knew it was going to really hurt him when he found out.

Even Kuririn's face contorted in sorrow over the passing of the Saiyajin Prince. Sure, his brother-in-law had always looked down on him, but the way Vegeta had gone out...even he was hit hard by it.

Kuririn then glanced over at his wife to see how she was taking this. At first, he couldn't tell if she was affected or not by the loss of her brother, as her expression were too abstruse. Then, in the next moment, her eyes cleared, filled with some sort of a decision. She looked directly at him.

"Here, I'm leaving them with you," she said concisely, as she handed Goten and Koji over Kuririn. Their daughter and Piccolo watched on questioningly.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kuririn asked her.

"Where else? To go check things out," Amara replied.

"Wait! I want to come with you," Kuririn told her, just as Amara had turned around. Amara glared at him out the corner of her eye over her left shoulder.

"No, I'm going alone," she told him sharply. "If you went, what could you possibly do!"

Kuririn cringed at his mate's sharp words. Without another word, the Saiyajin Princess rocketed away, surrounded in a corona of white flames.

"Mama..." Hoshi said, looking after her mother worriedly.

"Don't worry, she's fine" Kuririn hastened to assure his daughter. His expression turned rueful as he gazed off into distance after the dwindling form that was his wife. "I think she's taking Vegeta's death a little hard."

After observing the whole scene quietly, Piccolo nodded to himself, seeming to have reached some quiet decision.

"Kuririn, I'm going to go check things out, too," he said. "Here."

Since Kuririn was already holding Goten and Koji, there was some obvious rearranging that needed to be done. In a matter of moments, Hoshi had both the unconscious Koji and Goten tucked under either arm, while Kuririn held Juuhachi-gou in his arms. Glancing down at the unconscious blonde woman, struck by a feeling of deja-vu from seven years ago, as this was the way he had held her from the moment Gohan had freed her from Cell to the moment they had took refuge at God's Palace after the battle.

"You two, get them all home," Piccolo instructed. He drifted forward as if he was about to fly off, but stopped, as he something had just occurred to him. "Oh, and Kuririn, when you see everyone there's something else you should tell them...Gohan is also dead."

"Huh?" Kuririn cried in shock, his daughter's expression mirroring his. "G-gohan...Gohan is dead too!"

* * *

Vegeta blinked in faint stupor. One moment, he had been back on Earth, summoning every ki in his body and then some against the immortal-like Majin Buu. But now, he had found himself standing on a snakelike walkway that arced over an enormous expanse of golden clouds that seemed to stretch on into eternity. In front and behind of him, was a long line of blue, laughing, wispy gases that he knew to be unembodied spirits. And a few miles ahead, his acute Saiyajin vision could just make out the familiar outline of Enma's Realm.

Instead of being taken aback by this, Vegeta closed his eyes and sighed resignedly. Well, at least it was over with now. He may be dead, but his family was still alive, and safe.

They would never have to fear anything from Majin Buu ever again.

* * *

High up in the air, lightning and energy continued to chase each other across the dark cloud, with the occasional bolt descending down to the strike the ground now and then. But amidst it all a figurine hung in midair, held tightly in gravity's grasp. It was a statue of none other than the late Prince of all Saiyajin himself. Vegeta's devastating attack had completely drained every inch of his ki, and now all that was left of him was this statue of the warrior who had so willingly given up his life to save his family. And etched on his face was his final facial expression.

Then gravity finally released its grip on the statue, and plummeted out of the sky. It landed in the center of the crater, shattering into pieces as soon as it made contact with the ground. A cold, bitter wind suddenly swept across the battle-scarred terrain, carrying away the remains of the statue with it...

Not too soon afterwards, Amara quietly touched down in the exact same spot the statue had landed. Right away, she slipped into a state of astonishment as she surveyed the severe damages done.

_*Vegeta...* _she thought in quiet awe.

Another breeze swept by, tousling Amara's hair as it did. Closing her eyes, Amara found herself remembering her conversation with her brother before his fated battle against Majin Buu commenced.

_"I will not!" Majin Amara replied defiantly. "Buu being freed was just as much my fault as it was yours, so I have every right to face fight him, too." _

_"Fool!" her brother berated. "What difference do you think you can make when you're nowhere as strong as me or...Gohan?" _

"That day Furiiza attacked, he had said something similar to me- Father did," she said as she looked up towards the dark cloud. "Still, I never imagined that you would end up suffering the same fate as he did...Niisama."

Niisama, now that was a word she hadn't used in a very long time. Back on their home world, it was the term she had used to address her brother due to him being the Prince and a year older than her; even if she was the Princess. Back then, she had resented her brother so much, for always looking down on her, always reminding her that she would never be as great as him. Even so, when Furiiza had destroyed everyone and everything she had known, that resentment had faded when thought she would never get to see her only brother ever again. After all, he had never been a jerk to her _always_.

On that day, she had feared that was the last of her kind, all alone in the universe as the only Saiyajin left...until an infant Kakarott flew past Kura's ship, giving her a tiny bit of hope that maybe her race wasn't completely wiped out at all. But now, she really was the last of her kind- the last of the full-blooded Saiyajin.

During those dark days back when she served under Kura, she had discovered that her brother and two other Saiyajin had survive and were working under Furiiza, she never once attempted to get into contact with him. Upon chance encounters with either Nappa or Raditz, she would always tell them to forget that they ever saw her, and that if they were to tell Vegeta about her she would kill them. Her reason wasn't just because she wanted to avoid either Kura or Furiiza becoming suspicious if the two reunited, it was because...it was because Vegeta looked too much like their Father. The great, proud king of their people that had sacrificed his life for her, so that was why she never got in touch with her brother until their unexpected reunion seven years ago when she came to Earth looking for Juuhachi-gou.

But looking back on today, she understood that behind his harsh words, he was really just looking out for her. There was another thing she realized that wasn't just his mate and kid he sacrificed himself for today...it was also her. Just like their father did over thirty years ago.

After a short navigation across the crater, the princess had soon came across something very interesting. Littered across the ground in front of were numerous fragments of Majin Buu. It was right then that Amara realized the reason behind her brother's suicidal strategy.

"I see," she murmured. "To blow up Majin Buu to the point that not even his regenerating ability could save him..." The Saiyajin Princess smirked in approval. "Nothing less from a Saiyajin Elite. "I may not accepted some of your decisions when you were alive, Vegeta. But in the end, you were a real a man- a true Saiyajin of noble blood. And thanks to you, it's all over with." Bringing her right fist to her chest and closing her eyes, Amara silently paid her respects to her older brother.

A moment later, Amara opened her eyes and asked, "It is all over with...right, Namekseijin?"

The Saiyajin looked deliberately out the corner of her eye at the cloaked being standing silently several behind her, letting him know that she had known he was there all along. If Piccolo was surprised, he didn't show it all.

"I hope so," Piccolo replied, walking toward the Princess. He drew abreast her in a matter of moments, looking sidelong at her. "I really hope so. However, I can't help this bad feeling I'm getting because you still wear the mark of the Majin on."

Amara stared back at the green fighter in surprise, then she drew her right hand to the spot on her forehead she was certain her mark would be. Because of everything that was going on, she hadn't paid attention to this detail at all. But why did she still wear this symbol on her forehead? Shouldn't it have disappeared when Piccolo killed Babidi? Isn't that how these things worked? Though now that she remembered, even after Babidi's death, and before his own, she clearly saw the sign of the Majin emblazoned on Vegeta's forehead.

What was going on here?

"H-heelllpp!" a voice rasped out.

"Huh!" the Namekseijin and Saiyajin shouted together, both their eyes widening.

While it had been faint, that strangled cry sounded awfully familiar to them. Amara immediately marched off in the direction she had heard the sound coming from; Piccolo followed her closely behind. As the two drew closer and closer to the source, both Piccolo and Amara grew angrier and more stunned with each step they took, and with each whimper and plea that begun to grow.

At last, when the two arrived at the origin of the commotion, neither of them could try to deny the ugly truth any longer. While Piccolo gawped, the last full-blood of the royal Saiyajin family looked like she was about to pop a vessel as a vein bulged furiously on her forehead at what they both saw at their feet. Sprawled in a crater of his own was Madoshi Babidi-well, what was left of him, anyway.

Realizing that he wasn't alone anymore, Babidi weakly looked up to see who it was, hoping they would be able to help him. The hope in his large eyes instantly turned into horror, however, when he found two people standing over him that wanted to do anything but help.

"Hmph! For a weakling, you sure are persistent," Piccolo growled coldly.

"I didn't want to believe it was true, but I shouldn't be all that surprise," Amara said. "He must have saved himself with his barrier."

"Heeeee-lllppp!" Babidi rasped out again. Unfortunately for him, no help still came.

Just the sound of the Madoshi's voice calling out for help angered both the warriors, after all the trouble Babidi had caused.

"Nonetheless, he should still be dead," Piccolo said. "If not by my attack, then at least by Vegeta's."

"You're right," Amara agreed, scowling.

A feral grin curved Piccolo's face, one that would've made people who really knew him think he'd never stopped being the Arch-Demon Piccolo Daimoah. "Well, why don't we stop talking about it and make sure we finish the little bastard off this time!"

"M-Majin Boo...!" Babidi rasped again.

Between Amara and Piccolo on the ground, the remnants of Buu unnoticeably started to stir.

"You know, Namekseijin, that's not a bad idea," Amara agreed, wearing a grin that matched his.

Thrusting their hands out to the damaged mage as one, their fingers began dwindling with energy as they gathered power. Just when they were about to fire-

"H-HELP ME! MAJIN BUUU!" Babidi shrieked out of desperation at the last second.

And right beside Majin Amara's and Piccolo's foot, the two pink blob pieces of Majin Buu began to move around more lively and as did the Majin's other fragments.

"Huh!" the two Z-Warriors exclaimed, noticing the movement at once. The two gasped and gawped when all of a sudden, the globules morphed into miniature size versions of Buu.

Neither Piccolo nor Amara could believe what they were seeing.

Majin Buu.

He was still alive!

"T-this is impossible!" Piccolo exclaimed.

"He shouldn't still be alive!" the Saiyajin Princess screamed in unbelief. "Vegeta's attack should've done him in!"

Even as the two tried to force themselves to not believe what they were seeing, they could still hear an all-too recognizable eerie humming. The sound grew louder and louder, as more globs began rising up off the ground all over the place. In the next instant, they began rocketing into the sky and commenced molding and a building a new body- well, rather bodies. Not one Majin Buu hovered in the air over them, but five! All the Buus smiled down at the two stupefied warriors below them.

Both the Princess of the Saiyajins and Piccolo stared in identical horror. Neither of them could say anything, both momentarily losing the ability to speak.

All of sudden the Majin Buu in the center raised his right finger authoritatively, and said, "Buu!"

On his command, the other Majin Buus flew straight towards and into the middle Buu. The Buus became a large mass of glob that filled the sky briefly, before the mass formed into the original one-Majin killing machine.

After the gears in the brain finally started to move again, Piccolo said one word. "RUN!"

For once, Amara wouldn't feel ashamed about running away from a fight. In a blaze of ki, both her and Piccolo kicked off into the air, zooming away at top speed

"BUUUUUUUUUU!" he whooped excitedly once more, raising his fists triumphantly. The Majin then did a backflip and touched down on the ground with his unfathomable grace. He danced in celebration of his revival for a moment, before bellowing with laughter.

"B-Buu!"

"Huh?" Majin Buu said, blinking his narrow eyes inquisitively as he quickly looked around. Ambling over to the source of the voice, he found himself looking down into a hole, and lying ungainly in the hole was his master. "You been buried?"

"N-no, no!" Babidi shouted, slamming his only fist repeatedly onto the ground. "Look closely! Closely!

It was then that the Majin had noticed that half the Madoshi's body was gone.

"What happened to your feet?" Buu asked, scratching his face in puzzlement.

"Never mind about that! D-don't just stand there! Get me out of here!"

"You'd think they'd be kind of important, though, huh?" Majin Buu asked instead, spinning around.

"H-hey! Return me to normal!" Babidi ordered.

"Back to normal?" Majin Buu repeated.

"Yes! You should be able to do it!" Babidi answered pressingly. "Hurry up! I'll die, you know!"

"No reason I couldn't do it...!" Majin Buu replied.

The sorcerer glared ferociously at his father's creation. He grew even angrier childly monster started dancing, and was that anger towards the Majin that allowed Babidi to sit up all the way.

"What are you doing?" Babidi snapped. "Do it now! Or do you want to be sealed up again!"

Immediately, Majin Buu stopped dancing entirely. As much as he didn't like the warlock, he hated the idea of being put back inside that prison far more. Spinning around, he grinned a lot more affably down at the broken warlock. Nonetheless, the grin held a dark quality to it that went completely unnoticed.

"Okay! I'll make you whole again!" With those words, Buu lowered his head and fired off a teal-white energy beam down at his master. When the light faded away shortly, Babidi was whole again.

Babidi immediately rose back up to his feet, staring down at his regrown limbs in marvel.

"All right, nice work, Majin Buu," Babidi commended.

Majin Buu obediently bowed in gratitude towards the Madoshi.

After the joy of still being alive and healthy again had passed, it was replaced by burning rage.

"But then again, those vermin…" Babidi growled, fists clenched, his whole body shaking with anger. "They're the ones who did this to me! Juuhachi-gou, Amara, the green guy, and those two runts! You're all absolutely going to pay for this! I won't wipe out this planet at once! I'm going to make you suffer! This place will become Hell itself! We'll show them all how fearsome Babidi-sama and Majin Buu are!"

* * *

Kuririn and Hoshi hadn't gotten very far, when they suddenly felt both Piccolo and Amara coming up right behind them-and fast! Stopping, the two turned around to see the Namekseijin and Princess pull up short in front of them. Both warriors looked quite rattled by something.

"What's wrong you two?" Kuririn asked worriedly.

"There's been a change of plan!" Amara answered pressingly.

"Being on the ground is too dangerous!" Piccolo added. "We're going to God's Palace!"

"God's Palace?" Hoshi repeated, mystified.

"Amara! Piccolo! What do you two mean?" Kuririn inquired. "And what about Vegeta? Did he really get Majin Buu?"

"No!" Amara hissed, shaking with fury. "Majin Buu survived!"

Both Kuririn and Hoshi gasped.

"N-no way!" Kuririn replied in dismay.

"What about Uncle?" Hoshi asked.

"Yeah, what happened to Vegeta?" Kuririn asked.

There was a long pause. Kuririn stared in shock.

"D-don't tell me..." he stared.

"There wasn't a trace of Vegeta left," Piccolo said grimly.

"Vegeta...he died for nothing," Amara replied bleakly.

"Oh, no!" Kuririn gasped.

"There isn't anything we really can do now except head to God's Palace," Piccolo said gravely, as he retrieved the unconscious Goten and Koji from Hoshi. Staring down at the two half-Saiyajin, Piccolo added, "And hope for a miracle."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	36. Dark Horizons

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of their are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Dark Horizons**

* * *

Madoshi Babidi was in a very gleeful mood right now, in spite of the fact that he had just been on the brink of death only a short while ago. And who wouldn't be in a good mood when they had the most powerful being ever created under their control? Presently, he was perched proudly aboard his servant's back, as the Majin hurtled across the sky, a deceptively silly grin splitting his face. Where they were heading to?...wherever on this planet his enemies were hiding at.

The warlock's expression contorted in fury, as his mind turned to the ones who who had dared to oppose him. Both Juuhachi-gou and Amara for using him to serve their own designs instead of his own, the green fighter who had critically injured him, and as well as two pipsqueaks for meddling in Majin Buu's fight against Vegeta. They would pay! He would make them all pay for challenging him, Babidi-sama, and the invincible Majin Buu!

Babidi's rage was momentarily mollified at the thought of the deceased Saiyajin Prince. What a fool Vegeta had been! He had actually though he could use the very strength the warlock had given him through his magic to defeat Majin Buu. Sure, his Soul Enslaving curse could make someone extremely powerful, but he wasn't THAT much of a miracle worker to make anyone nearly as strong as the monster underneath him. And what had Vegeta got in the end for disobeying him? A one-way trip to the afterlife! Though he had been busy exerting all the rest of the strength in his severed body to keep his Barrier up, Babidi had still witnessed Vegeta making the ultimate sacrifice by blowing himself up.

He sneered maliciously at the memory. _*Vegeta really was an idiot! I bet he thought he was going to die like a hero or something, but the fool ended up killing himself in vain!*_

But as amusing as he found that, there were more important things he had to worry about.

"Dammit! This planet is so huge, even finding those five won't be easy," he complained. Then he grinned maliciously. "If that's how it is, then Majin Buu, until those five show themselves, will kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! And kill some more!"

"OK!" Majin Buu cheered in agreement.

As the two continued on their way, they were oblivious to the vengeful, raging eyes watching them from another dimension.

* * *

Down in Jigoku, Vegeta watched the pair with an expression of burning ire through a 'magical window'. Although he had already been informed by Enma Daiou that Majin Buu had survived his attack beforehand, he still had to see it with his own eyes. And now that he was seeing Majin Buu flying about with Babidi on his back, Vegeta dealt with it the same way he'd dealt with it when Enma had told him that Majin Buu was still alive...not well.

Howling in incoherent fury, his Super Saiyajin aura exploded from his powerfully compacted frame. Gold fire and peals of white electricity swallowed him whole, bleaching his dark hair to a burnt gold and changing his eyes to a pupiless bright blue-green. If any of the other beings in Hell had been afraid to go anywhere near the renowned fierce Saiyajin Prince, they were definitely afraid to go anywhere near him now. Even Cell and Furiiza would think twice to dare invade his personal space.

*_This...this is inconceivable! * _a ordered thought had finally pushed its way into his fury-filled mind. *_That creature still lives, and I died for nothing!*_

Vegeta's fury went to a new height. Not only because he had killed himself in vain, but also because Majin Buu was still left alive back on Earth where his family was. And he was stuck down there in Hell, unable to protect his mate or son. Even his little sister...Why was it when Kakarott did this kind of thing, everything would come out all right in the end? Something else the lowborn warrior was better than him in!

When Vegeta looked back into the 'magical window' before him, he was very faintly surprised when he saw that the scene had shifted to one of a very recognizable figure lying prone and motionless on some rocky terrain. Just where he'd left him.

After taking a deep, calming breath, Vegeta finally powered down, both his hair and eyes fading back to black. He characteristically crossed his arms over his chest, as he regarded the inert form of Kakarott, his eyes gleaming in a mix of sharp bitterness...and a very vague flicker of hope.

"All right, Kakarott," he murmured, his voice was soft, yet still held its fierceness. "Once again, the safety of the planet and its inhabitants are once again in your grubby little hands. I'm counting on you do that annoying habit of yours of always making things right whenever something goes wrong." During a brief pause in his words, that perpetual, stony scowl of his hardened. "And if you lose...and if you let my family die...I will kill you! I'll make sure you never exist in any other dimension ever again!"

* * *

Both Dende and Mr. Popo came rushing out of the palace in equal amounts of urgency. Moments ago, they had felt familiar ki signatures drawing closer to the palace, and so they wanted to go out and greet them. Just as soon as they had gotten halfway down the courtyard, four figures rose up from the world below and over the tower.

As the God of Earth, there was no event that transpired on his planet that Dende was ignorant of. He had been very well aware of the events that had taken place over the planet for the past few hours, and also of the resultant great evil that emerged from it all. The grim picture his guests made only gave the young deity a bleaker notion that the crisis the planet was currently in had grown even more direful than it already had been.

"We've been expecting you," Dende informed. His expression immediately creased in worry when he saw the unconscious Juuhachi-gou in Kuririn's arms and the unconscious Koji and Goten tucked under either of Piccolo's arms, as the four alighted in front of them, with two of them immediately powering down. "Are those three okay?"

Piccolo nodded. "Vegeta only knocked them out, so it shouldn't be anything serious," he said. "Let them sleep inside a bit."

"That's easy enough," Dende replied. "Popo?"

"Got it," Popo answered in compliance. The djinn walked over to Kuririn and took Juuhachi-gou into his arms.

"I'll give you a hand, Mr. Popo-san," Hoshi volunteered.

"Thank you," Popo replied with a smile, nodding at the half-Saiyajin girl in gratitude.

After taking her cousin and Goten from Piccolo, Hoshi followed Piccolo inside the palace, leaving the others outside.

"Majin Buu..." Dende said after a moment of grim silence, cold sweat on his face. "A fearsome devil has returned to life indeed."

"Dende-san, while Hoshi is gone could you tell us how things looks for us?" Kuririn asked earnestly.

A serious question merited a serious answer. "Very grim, my friend." Dende said forthrightly. "With that horrible creature Majin Buu and Babidi running loose over the place, Earth and its people are in serious peril of the likes I've never seen before."

Kuririn groaned resignedly. "Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say."

"So are you saying there's absolutely nothing we can do?" Amara demanded indignantly. "We just sit up here and watch those bastards kill everyone below, before he finally find us!" Glaring down at the floor, her expression took on a different kind of anger as her fists shook. "He took the full brunt of Vegeta's final attack, and still was able to regenerate back good as new, while Vegeta died!"

"Yes, I know all about Vegeta," Dende said ruefully. "And Majin Buu being able to survive such an attack only asserts his extraordinary strength."

"Dende! What about Goku?" Kuririn abruptly asked. "What happened to him?"

Smiling in amusement, Dende answered, "You don't have to worry about the late Goku-san dying again."

"Oh, right. I guess I forgot about that," Kuririn admitted. Seeing the humor of it all, he laughed, however, he immediately stopped when both his mate and Piccolo glared at him scathingly.

"But Goku-san's taken a whole lot of damage," Dende added.

"Do you think it was Majin Buu and Babidi?" Kuririn asked.

"No, it was Vegeta." Kuririn and Piccolo whirled toward Amara with looks of surprise. Amara added on.

"That stubborn Vegeta!" Kuririn said, looking a bit annoyed. "He might've still been alive right now if Goku had been there to help him out."

"But Vegeta didn't want anyone's help," Amara explained. "He had said he'd wanted to do it by himself to make up for an incident he'd caused seven years ago."

"An incident seven years ago?" Kuririn repeated, looking puzzled.

"Hm," Piccolo said, looking thoughtful. "I wonder if Vegeta had been talking about the incident with Cell. After all, that mess with him had been his fault."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Kuririn agreed, frowning. He remembered the ordeal with Cell.

"Cell...again his name is brought up," Amara remarked, frowning pensively. She looked up at her husband and the others. "I still know so little about that event. What exactly happened?"

"Cell was a Jinzouningen like Juuhachi-gou, and was created by Dr. Gero like she was," Piccolo explained. "Cell's purpose in life was to absorb Juuhachi-gou and as well as her brother Juunana-gou into his being so that he could become a Perfect being. And Cell succeeded in his mission, thanks to your brother. He absorbed Juunana-gou first, and despite Juuhachi-gou being our enemy at the time, we tried to save her from being next, but Vegeta had become so arrogant with his own power that he practically handed her over to him just so he could test out his powers," Piccolo finished with a grimace.

When he was finished, Amara looked momentarily surprised, then her accustomed scowl returned.

"I see," she simply said.

Then, with a sudden look of realization, Piccolo asked, "Kaioushin-sama! I-I'd forgotten all about him! Can you tell if Kaioushin-sama still alive, Dende?"

Dende looked curiously guilty at the question. "My stars! I'd forgotten all about Kaioushin-sama, too!" he confessed. "Let me check right quick."

Closing his eyes, the teenaged deity swept out across the planet beneath him with his world-wide sensing ability. He had distantly wondered if anyone had notice him wince when he'd stumbled upon Majin Buu's enormous and evil ki. A moment later, he'd finally come across the one he was looking for, though he didn't look all that excited when he did so.

"I've found him!" Dende said after a lengthy time, reopening his eyes. He looked grim, however. "But his ki is pretty weak. He's still alive, but hurt pretty badly."

"Well, it's good to know that he's at least still alive out there," Piccolo said. "And what about Gohan?"

Unable to meet his mentor's eyes, Dende answered, "Unfortunately, no."

Just then, Mr. Popo had suddenly emerged out of the palace.

"Laid three down for sleep," Mr. Popo said, as drew up in front of them. "They fine soon."

"Where's Hoshi?" Kuririn asked.

"Can't fight if you're hungry," Mr. Popo replied sensibly. "Meal is ready, and little girl is already there. You'd better come quickly!"

"What! Hoshi's already eating!" Kuririn asked in alarmed, and with good reason as his daughter's appetite was just as voracious as any other Saiyajin. "I better hurry before she eats everything! Er, if that's okay with you, Dende?"

Dende smiled. "Be my guest."

Not needing to be told twice, Kuririn immediately followed behind the djinn has he head back inside the palace. After a moment or two, Amara looked as if she would join them, but-

"Wait, Amara-san!" Dende called. Amara stopped and looked back at the deity. "You've taken a lot of damage, too. I'll heal you, if you don't mind."

Amara considered that for a brief moment, then with a shrug she turned and started walking towards Dende.

"Dende," Piccolo said, "We should get the Room of Spirit and Time. I have a feeling we'll be needing to use it very soon."

Dende nodded somberly. "Yes."

* * *

Madoshi Babidi was not in a very gleeful mood right now. As a matter of fact, he was screaming for his very life at the moment as he was being carried across the world at full-tilt by Majin Buu. The Majin was flying through the air like a maniac, seeming to forget his short passenger aboard his back who was clinging to his shoulders with a death grip. It was only a short while ago he had to endure Majin Buu flying through a building full of a people without regard.

"M-Majin Buu! Not so fast!" Babidi called down.

The Majin paid no attention to him. In fact, if Babidi were to fall off right now and make a messy landing on the earth several hundred yards below them, he wouldn't have cared very much. He was having too much fun racing across the sky at full speed to be considerate of his master's feelings.

"SLOW DOWN!" the warlock bellowed with more ferocity.

Majin Buu acknowledged him that time.

"But I like flying fast like this," he said. "It's so much fun!"

Babidi glared irritably at the back of Majin Buu's head.

"Majin Buu, remember, I am the master and _you_ are the slave!" the mage said. "Now slow it down. After all, you don't want to be sealed up again, do you?"

Babidi barely repressed his chuckle of victory when he felt an unmistakable shudder go through the large monster at his mention of that fear-inspiring egg. He thought he had put Majin Buu in his place again and that he would go back to obeying his orders without anymore disobedience. However, had the wizard been able to see the furious look on Buu's face just now, he might have realized that he shouldn't be pushing it too far with one of the most dangerous force ever produced in the universe. The djinn was starting to grow more than just a bit fed up with Babidi barking orders at him and ruining his fun by threatening to place him back inside that egg again. First his father and now Babidi. There was just so much that someone as powerful as the Majin to put up with the irritating weak warlock, and one of these days...

_*One day, I get rid of annoying Babidi, and have all the fun I want, so I want have to worry about being sealed up ever again!*_ A malicious grin split Majin Buu's face at the future prospect of being free of Madoshi Babidi once and for all. But unfortunately, that time wasn't right now as he knew full well that Babidi was in perfect position to magic him back into his imprisonment if he kept giving him any inclination to do so. So, for the moment, Buu would obey him. However, once an opportunity arose for him to be free...he would take it.

* * *

His head hurt, a whole lot, from one of the worst headaches he's ever had. It had been such a long time since he had experienced things such as headaches. Even when he was alive he didn't suffer headaches all that much- well, not the normal way that most people got them. Most people weren't usually getting hit on the head with their wife's frying pan all the time. But none of the headaches he got then couldn't compare to the one he was having right now.

_*Damn that Vegeta...* _he thought distantly.

Then, just as abruptly as the thought came to him, he sharply remembered just how come his head was hurting so much right now. He'd finally gotten the Saiyajin Prince to call a truce with him so they could go fight the bigger threat at hand: Majin Buu. But Vegeta had gotten other ideas while they'd been trying to stop up Juuhachi-gou and Amara's fight. While his back had been turned and he'd been searching inside the sack containing the senzou beans, the Prince had struck him down from behind...and that was far as he could remembered.

He soon started to become a lot more aware of things as he slowly began to drift back into consciousness. He could feel a passing brittle wind blowing over him, brushing across his face and tousling his hair and clothes. He could also feel the roughness of the terrain beneath him, rocks poking his body here and there. But the thing he was most aware of was the all-pervasive silence looming all around him. He didn't like the sound of the deathly muteness one bit.

Slowly, Son Goku's eyes finally slid open, with the accompaniment of a groan as he was now even more aware of the acute pain shooting sparks in the back of his head. Gritting his teeth, he rolled himself and started to rise, bit by bit, fighting through the pain of his headache to find the necessary strength to stand. After a long, agonizing minute, he was eventually able to clamber up to his feet.

Goku's face contorted into a annoyed scowl as he rubbed at the back of his sore head, where he was now aware of a large lump. "Vegeta. Why that son of-huh?"

Goku stopped the crude remark that was nearly spat out of his mouth when he noticed an all too familiar little brown sack lying on the ground. Reaching down, he picked the tiny sack up, however, he grimaced upon taking a look inside and discovering that all of the senzou beans were gone.

"_Kuso_, why does he always have to be like this?" he grumbled under his breath.

After placing the sack back beneath his sash, Goku looked up and gasped softly in shock as he finally became aware of his surroundings. They had changed since before he'd been knocked unconscious. His battle with Majin Vegeta had caused heavy damage to the land, as well as Amara and Juuhachi-gou's battle, but now the entire region looked barren and desolate, empty of any large rock formations or any signs of life. Goku scowled grimly at it all.

_*Hm, there was a big fight here after I was knocked out,* _he realized, staring out into the distance. *_Even though I can sense that the fight has long since ended, I still feel traces of energy being throwing around earlier hovering over the area...but more importantly, I can feel traces of Vegeta's ki.*_

But that was about the only thing he could feel of Vegeta now. He couldn't feel anything of the Prince's ki as he combed the area with his sharp ki-senses, nor could he feel Gohan's. Cold shock briefly surged through him as he was hit with a dreadful conclusion as to why he couldn't sense his son nor his rival.

_"They're dead. They're both really dead," _he thought, feeling numb all over.

A moment later, the dead Saiyajin shook himself. There would be time for him to mourn of the deaths of Gohan and Vegeta, but he knew now wasn't the time. Even now, he could sense Majin Buu, along with Babidi's weaker ki, somewhere out in the world, both causing mayhem no doubt.  
_  
"Dammit! If the strength of a Super Saiyajin Two isn't enough to beat Majin Buu, then the only way to probably beat him would be..."_ Goku shook himself again, before he could finish the rest of that thought. "_No, Kaiou-sama specifically warned me from doing that here, so its out of the question. Then again, there was another way Majin Buu could've been defeated. But I'm not so sure if I can do that now that both Vegeta and Gohan are dead..."_

Goku sighed, opting to just find another way to the predicament he and the rest of the world were now in altogether. There just had to be. He's always been able to find one in the past while in the face of overwhelming odds. But first he had to find the rest of his friends and his family, and he couldn't see heads or tails of them anywhere in the area, nor could he feel their ki anywhere close around. For a brief, disturbing moment, he thought that the rest of his comrades might've been killed like Vegeta and Gohan had been. But then, as he started to expand his range to outside the area, he finally discovered Amara's ki, along with Kuririn's and Piccolo's, but they were all emanating from high above him. He didn't need to wonder where they were now.

Aware of their location, the Saiyajin drew two fingers to his forehead, locked back onto those three kis, then vanished from the area in a blur of colorless light.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	37. Glimmers of Hope

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of them are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: Glimmers Of Hope**

* * *

An anxious, deathlike ambiance loomed over the Tenkai. If anyone spoke, they did so quietly. Dende and Piccolo stood together near the edge of the tower, somberly conversing; Mr. Popo stood nearby, in case his God needed him for something. On the steps that led up into the palace, Kuririn and his daughter sat on the middle step, both with their chins propped in their hands and looking equally despondent. A short distance away, Amara stood alone against one of the pillars (it was the same pillar that Juuhachi-gou had punched Vegeta into seven years ago), arms folded.

Amara stared down at herself. She was as good as new; Dende wasn't just able to get rid of all the bruises and wounds Juuhachi-gou had inflicted on her during their fight, but he had also completely cured her of Babidi's possession spell. That last bit had been accomplished by Dende having the Saiyajin Princess drink something known as the Holy Water. Initially, Amara though she had just unwittingly drunk some kind of poison, as a severe pain through her body while she choked for the first few moments, but she had came through okay. Completely free of Babidi's spell, she had secretly feared that all of that incredible strength she had gained would be gone, too, but surprisingly it was all still there. It was just waiting for her to unleash it at her leisure.

With the way she looked, it almost seemed as if Amara never had become a Majin Warrior or been in intense fight with her rival. Almost.

_*And it had been some fight, too,* _she thought, her mouth quirking into a smirk of Saiyajin delight.

Despite how she felt about the repercussions that came with her scheme, in the end, she didn't regret going through her secret scheme to use Babidi's magic to increase her strength, and as well as Juuhachi-gou. Before she even knew of Babidi, Amara had managed to finally surpass Juuhachi-gou during the past several years, and could have easily challenged her and defeated her. However, upon that same realization, she had been left unsatisfied. After Kosumo had told her and the others of the effects of Babidi's spell, and that Juuhachi-gou would be in danger of turning into one if Babidi ever laid eyes on her, that's when she resolved herself to her decision. And just as expected, Juuhachi-gou had been able to give her the fight she had wanted, though, she had still been both surprised and annoyed that they were evenly strong even after the warlock's magic powered her up.

_*Hm. But she and I hadn't really even solve anything,*_ Amara realized, her expression turning a bit sour at the recognition. *_After going through all of the trouble of getting myself purposely placed under Babidi's spell, I still haven't resolved my issues with Juuhachi-gou. Will it always remain like that?*_

As she was pondering that, Goku appeared. Everyone out on the courtyard looked toward him right away with looks of surprise.

"Goku!" "Kakarott!" Kuririn, Dende, Piccolo, and Amara chorused at the same time.

Despite the grim mood he'd been in a few moments ago, Goku managed to work one of his cheerful smiles on his face and threw a friendly wave.

"Yo!"

A short while later, the group could be found sitting on the steps or standing nearby. Everyone wore serious expressions as Piccolo filled Goku in on all the events that had transpired during his absence. From the time Piccolo and Kuririn returned to normal and found Koji, Goten, and Hoshi were also there, to watching Majin Buu assault Kaioushin before Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara arrived on the scene, to Vegeta's impossible battle against Majin Buu, to finally the Saiyajin Prince forfeiting his own life for his family.

"...and that's everything," Piccolo said, wrapping up his drawn-out explanation.

Goku, who was completely healed (even his clothes were as good as new), remained silent for a time when green warrior had finished, staring dismally down at his feet.

"This is real bad," he said at last. "Even Vegeta, Gohan, and Kaioushin-sama were no match for Buu. Chichi and Goten are gonna be pretty devastated about Gohan. And poor Juuhachi-gou-san and Koji...Vegeta died for nothing wanting to protect them."

"Hey, why are we all still looking so gloomy?" Kuririn asked everyone optimistically. "Goku's here, now! I'm sure he'll find a way to beat Majin Buu, right buddy?"

Goku smiled over at his friend, half-gratefully, half-regrettably. Although he'd already known it before now, it felt good to know his best friend had such confidence in him, however, he wasn't exactly feeling like sharing his enthusiasm right now.

"I don't know Kuririn," Goku answered quietly, looking away from the ex-monk almost shamefacedly. "After Vegeta was powered-up by Babidi's spell, he and I were exactly equal. And if he couldn't defeat Majin Buu...then what chance do I have against Buu?"

Those who had known Son Goku for a long time stared at him in surprise; they had never heard the carefree warrior sound so diffident before.

"And Majin Buu is far too strong that not even ganging up on him would work," Piccolo added.

"You mean...it really is hopeless!" Kuririn asked, looking disappointed.

Seeing the expression on his best friend's face, Goku turned to Kuririn and looked as if he was about to say something, but stopped. Technically, he did _know _of something that might be a match for Majin Buu- something that might even destroy the djinn entirely. Only, he couldn't use _that way_, especially while he was back in the living world.

_*And besides, is this really my home to defend anymore?*_ he asked himself. "_Kuririn-san seems to forget that I only have twenty-four hours on this planet before I go back to Other World. Probably even less so, after all that energy all I threw around while battling Vegeta. Using that technique would just speed up the time I have here. Still, though, there is another thing that might just help. A technique that can prove to be just as effective as that other one.*_

"Goku?" Kuririn asked, when his friend hadn't answer him after a long moment.

"That's enough, Kuririn," Amara said brusquely, though wasn't even looking her husband's direction. "Like Kakarott said, there was hardly any difference between him and Vegeta, and Vegeta still lost. Too be honest, I don't think having him here will make any difference at all."

Kuririn sighed in gloomy resignation. "So, there's really nothing we can do, huh?"

"Actually..." Goku spoke up slowly, immediately drawing everyone's eyes on him. "While I said I couldn't beat Majin Buu, I didn't say that everything was hopeless."

A ripple of interest immediately ran through the group. Kuririn broke out in a triumphant grin.

"I knew it!" he enthused. "I knew you come up with something if you put your mind to it, Goku."

"Is this really true, Goku?" Piccolo inquired inquisitively. "Do you have some plan to beat Majin Buu?"

"Maybe," Goku answered, though he still sounded a bit uncertain about this plan. "If Vegeta and Gohan were still alive, there was this certain _method _would have liked to have tried with them."

"Method?" Amara asked.

"Yeah, it's technique I learned while I was in Heaven," Goku said. "It's known as Fusion."

"Fusion?" Hoshi repeated.

"What is this Few-whatever-you-call it business?" Kuririn asked.

"No, Kuririn. It's _Fusion_," Goku corrected him.

"Fusion?" Dende repeated, eyes wide with a realization. "You mean joining? That's a Natamoru technique!"

"Good, so you know it too, Dende," Goku replied. "Yeah, I met some Natamoru in the afterlife who taught me the move."

"What exactly is this Fusion?" Amara inquired, looking a bit intrigued by it.

"Well, Amara, Fusion is..."

"Fusion is two beings of equal power merging into a single powerful being," a new voice finished for Goku.

The Saiyajin and everyone else blinked in surprise at the strange intrusion. Then, everybody looked around in time to see a pale-haired woman appearing in a flash of light.

"Kosumo-sama!" Goku, Piccolo, and Kuririn shouted together as the woman walked closer to them. Hoshi looked at the woman in curiosity, while her mother's narrowed at the sight of the mysterious woman.

"Welcome, Kosumo-sama," Dende said, inclining his head toward her respectfully.

"Likewise, young Kami-sama," Kosumo replied with the same respect, bowing to him.

"Kosumo-sama, where have you been all this time?" Piccolo asked.

"Yeah, Kaioushin-sama said you suddenly had go off on another mission," Goku said, scratching his head.

"That's right," Kosumo said seriously. "Dabura showing up with Babidi today had completely took us off guard. After he attacked us, I thought it was best to pick up a precaution to avoid more future surprises. Unfortunately, I arrived too late. The worst possibility has come to fruition."

"So, you know about Majin Buu?" Piccolo asked.

The Guardian of Cosmos nodded gravely.

"I know," Kosumo replied, her expression turning downcast. "Even while in a completely different dimension, I could still sense everything that was happening back here on Earth." Looking up at everyone, she sympathetically added, "Including what happened to Vegeta and Gohan."

There was a pause after that.

Then Kosumo asked, "Now Goku, you said something about using Fusion to defeat Majin Buu?"

"Yeah," Goku answered. He suddenly turned crestfallen. "Only, I'm not to sure if it'll actually work now."

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked.

"Well, like Kosumo said, in order for Fusion to work, there must be two beings of equal powers to merge together into one powerful warrior," Goku clarified. "And I had been hoping to either do it with Gohan or Vegeta since they were near my power level. However, with the two of them gone, the only other person left to fuse with would be Amara, and something tells me she'd really be against that." Amusement could clearly be heard in Goku's voice as he said that last part.

Kuririn shivered disgustedly at the thought of his wife and best friend (a man at that!) fusing into one person. "Ugh! Thanks, thanks a lot Goku for that wonderful image."

"Sorry, Kuririn-san," Goku said, laughing.

"Idiots!" Amara hissed exasperatedly, blushing furiously at the implications of her and Kakarott becoming one person.

"Don't get so discouraged of your idea so quickly, Goku," Kosumo told him. "I too believe that Fusion is the key to destroying Majin Buu. That is why I left earlier."

Afterwards, the Guardian of Cosmos held out her hands and golden light flared briefly in her palms. When the radiance disappeared, a large crystal had been left behind, and perched atop of the crystal in separate niches were a gold ring with a purple gem and a gold ring with a green gem. The others stared at it in varying levels of interest.

"Oooh! Pretty!" Hoshi gushed.

"Is this what you went to go pick up?" Goku asked.

"But they're just rings, aren't they?" Kuririn asked.

"Yes, but these are no ordinary rings," Kosumo explained. "These are the Galactic Rings."

"Galactic Rings?" Dende echoed curiously.

"The Galactic Rings act like a sort of Fusion," Kosumo answered, "but for it to work, the warriors who wear these rings must be completely of the same mind."

"The Fusion technique I learned from the Natamoru is performed a bit different," Goku said. "First you have to perform a dance and just bring your index fingers together."

"Oh, yes, the Natamoru technique, I know that very well," Kosumo said, nodding. "It's actually similar to my type of Fusion in the respect they last for the same period of time."

"Wow, really?" Goku replied, looking delighted. "This might work out after all."

"This Fusion...is it something like what happened between me and Nail?" Piccolo inquired.

"That's right, Piccolo, you are the result of a type of Fusion," Goku said. "The one you did is known as Assimilation, but it's still pretty much the same."

"Hm. Using both your Fusions could be our last hope," Piccolo said. "But Goku, have you decided who would do yours."

"Yeah, I still have to make a decision about that," Goku agreed, his expression serious.

"The young ones resting inside," Mr. Popo suddenly spoke, and everyone glanced at him. "Goten and Koji- both are same size and similiar in power. Maybe they could do it."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea, Mr. Popo," Kuririn cheerily agreed.

"With the potential those two have, they'll be perfect for Fusion," Goku added. "Only, the problem is it would take them a week to learn like I did, and I'm only here for today." The Saiyajin's face immediately lit up, as an idea came to him, and he looked toward Piccolo. "Piccolo, when I leave, would you continue to teach them."

"Yes," Piccolo complied, nodding.

"Have you all lost your mind?" Amara asked abruptly. "You're really going to entrust the safety of this planet in the hands of two brats still wet behind the ears! How absurd!"

"You shouldn't underestimate the squirts just yet," Piccolo told. "Children will find a way to surprise you when you least expect it. Especially Saiyajin kids."

"Gohan-san was only nine-years-old when he defeated Cell," Goku added. "While all the rest of us were pretty much powerless against him."

Amara paused for a moment, thinking that over. She couldn't exactly disagree with Piccolo, nor did she ever actually say they were weak or anything. Nevertheless, at a significant time like this, she just couldn't find herself to believe in their power.

"That may be so, but neither of them are Gohan," Amara said at last. "I refuse to rely on a 7 and 6 year old to win a battle for me!"

"Amara..." Kuririn said; as usual, loss for words whenever his wife became this difficult.

"Then why don't you fight alongside them?" Kosumo asked. Everyone immediately looked her way.

"What are you talking about?" Amara demanded. "Like this, I'm no match for-"

"No, not by yourself," Kosumo clarified, "but fused together with another woman just as strong using one of the Galactic Rings."

The princess stared at the woman for a moment, and then she burst in scornful laughter.

"Thanks, but I'll pass," Amara replied. Smugly, she added, "Besides, there are no other females on this planet as strong as me."

A moment of silence followed the Princess's words. Then, Goku blurted, "Hey! What about Juuhachi-gou? She's just as strong as you are!"

"What?" Amara bellowed, furious that the lowly warrior would there suggest such a thing.

"Hey, you've got a point there Goku," Piccolo agreed. "A Fusion between Amara and Juuhachi-gou should create something quite formidablel."

"Forget it!" Amara snarled, flushing a bit with anger. "There's no way in hell I'm merging together with a Jinzouningen! Especially her!"

"Ah, but honey you have to. All of Chikyuu is in danger," Kuririn tried to reason with his uncompromising spouse.

Amara just turned her back on him in good old Vegeta fashion, folding her arms. "I said the answer is NO!"

"Well, what about Hoshi here? What if Majin Buu were to happen to get a hold of her?" Kuririn asked.

Faster than thought, Kuririn was pulled right in the face of a woman who could crush him in half if it so pleased her. Amara's pretty face was twisted in a savage snarl at the audacity of Kuririn to use their daughter as some pawn in making her fuse with Juuhachi-gou, but deep down inside she'd understand where he was coming from. After a moment, Amara released him roughly.

"Then it's settled!" Goku cheerily said. "While Kosumo's teaching Amara and Juuhachi-gou her type of Fusion, I'll teach the boys mine!"

"You idiot! What part of I'm not doing it do you seem to understand?" Amara screamed at him, the fierceness of her voice making the dead Saiyajin cringe.

"Oh, you'll do it," Kosumo told her with grim assurance. "Once you see the destruction that Majin Buu is truly capable of causing, you'll then see that this is the only way to defeat him."

"We'll see about that," Amara muttered angrily under her breath. *_I don't care what the hell they say! There's no way I'm fusing with that android! It will never happen!*_

* * *

Small droplets of lavender blood stained a terrain already adorned with numerous scars caused by great battles here and there, but the one spilling it didn't even notice it. The only two things he was aware of was that he was seriously hurting, and also that he was moving slowly but surely to the east.

_*K-Kibito would sure come in handy right now,*_ Kaioushin thought detachedly, as he steadily walked forward. Well, he was more like steadily shuffling forward as his injuries were really hampering his mobility. He couldn't even marshal up enough ki to fly. The only reason he was even able to walk at all right now, was because of his strong desire to see the one who'd inflicted the wounds on him in the first place to be utterly and completely destroyed.

*_M-Majin Buu...* _Fury crept into the grimace of pain he was currently wearing on his face at the mere thought of his attacker. His well-ordered mind started to replay the horrid events of Majin Buu's rebirth and his subsequent assault on Dabura, Gohan, and himself. The flashbacks were so vivid, that he thought they were still happening now.

_*Damn you, Babidi...for freeing that damned devil back into this world,*_ the god thought bitterly. _*I truly hope that one day...Majin Buu ends up killing you...so you can finally get what you deserve!*_

Through all the pain he was feeling, Kaioushin managed to quirk his lips into a faint crooked smile at the thought of Babidi dying at the hands of the very monster his own father created.

_*You may think you've won, Babidi...but there's still hope for this world and the rest of the universe,"_ he thought determinedly." _...Son Gohan.*_

* * *

_"I'm proud of you, my son."_

_Those were the last words the blue-eyed boy had heard, before Vegeta released him and allowed him to collapse onto the ground, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as slipped into a state of unconsciousness, his hair turned black again and his Super Saiyajin aura vanished_

_"I…lied. Forgive me...for everything."_

_Majinzou Juuhachi-gou found herself gawping at Majin Vegeta again. In all the seven years they'd been together, he'd never once bothered asking her forgiveness for every time he made her mad. And she was really starting to become uncomfortable when she saw the look he was giving her, gentle and loving._

_"Okay, Vegeta, you're starting to actually scare me now," she said uneasily._

_It was due to her baffled state, that she hadn't been prepared when Majin Vegeta suddenly gripped her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her. As she stood frozen, utterly shocked, ki flared underneath Majin Vegeta's gloved hands and tendrils of electricity started to cover her entire body. Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened and she tried to cry out from this feeling between pain and gentle, but it was swallowed by her lover's kiss. All of a sudden, her whole system shut down. The last thing she saw before became unconscious as well, was a mixed look of regret and joy flickering in Vegeta's eyes._

Juuhachi-gou's eyes snapped open, and she sprung upright like a bolt. Her eyes widened from shock at the instant realization that she had just had a dream. She hasn't had a dream since- well, thanks to Gero she couldn't remember the actual last time she had awoke from a dream. Right afterwards, surprise crossed her smooth features yet again upon realizing that she was no longer standing out in the middle of a rocky desert, but now laying across the soft bed in a unfamiliar yet nice and elegant room.

Where was she?

How did she get there?

And where was Vegeta and her son?

Then, she realized that it hadn't been a dream at all. Vegeta had asked her to forgive him. He had kissed her. He had knocked her unconscious, and as well as their son and Goten. Juuhachi-gou's whole body froze up with shock. If Vegeta wasn't around when she woke up, then that meant...

"He's dead," she murmured, her voice echoing softly off the walls.

She couldn't believe it, Vegeta was actually dead.

_At long last, Majin Vegeta spoke again, but his words were bewildering. "Juuhachi-gou, Koji…I want you two to take good care of each other."_

And he had died for her and their son.

Unbelievably, something else she couldn't remember doing happened. An emotion, something she wished has surfaced after finding out that both her brother and Juuroku-gou were gone, and her eyes started to sting and become blurry. Shock register across her face when she realized the twin wet trails falling down either side of her face. Looking around into a nearby mirror confirmed what she had always thought impossible.

She was crying.

She was crying over Vegeta...for dying for her and their son. Instead of pushing the emotion away, she embraced it, covering her face as she wept silently for her lover.

* * *

Outside Capsule Corp. in the front lawn, Bulma deliberately places all seven of the Dragonballs in the circle. So close together, the enchanted orbs reacted to the proximity by glowing so brightly that the number of stars on each of respective Dragonballs could be seen. And overhead, the sky ever-so darkened. Smiling, Bulma took a step back to stand beside her husband and daughter. The others stood a short distance behind them.

While the others acted as if this was just another ordinary day for them, Videl stared down at the shining Dragonballs and anticipation. Seeing wish-granting dragons didn't happen to her everyday. Her mind was telling her that she shouldn't be so surprised about all of this now, considering the impossible stuff she's seen Gohan and his brother do, and there was also the events that took place earlier today. But her practical mind still wouldn't allow her to accept all of this.

"So, how is this supposed to work again?" Videl asked uncertainly. "How are we supposed to make this dragon appear?"

"No you just watch closely, Videl-san," Chichi told her with a knowing smile. "You're about to see somethin' you've never seen on TV before!"

"I think everything's set," Bulma said.

"Come on, Bulma," her father gently urged. "Let's hurry and bring back those poor people who were killed today at the tournament."

Bulma nodded. Holding out her hands over the glowing Dragonballs, she shouted, "IDE YO SHENLONG!"

Immediately, the world went through a shift from day to night. Crackling, gold light shot out from the Dragonballs, becoming one as it hurtled into the sky and lanced through the black clouds, solidifying in a massive green dragon. Videl witnessed it all, dumbstruck. She wasn't the only one to react that way, as nearly everyone in West City stopped what they were doing to gasp and gawp at the large serpentine figure hovering above them.

"Uso yo. This just can't be happening," she said in disbelief. "To think that such a world like this existed."

* * *

"All right, in any case, I'm going to go get everyone," Kuririn was telling the others back at Kami's Palace.

"Kuririn, watch yourself out there," Amara told him. "As soon as you sense Majin Buu come into range, you make a run for it."

"Hey, you don't have to remind me," Kuririn said with a laugh.

Kuririn only got a few steps, when the sky around the temple abruptly turned black. Kuririn slowed to a stop to stare up in surprise and confusion with the others.

Goku ran a few steps forward and stopped, then looked around in more confusion.

"What? It's suddenly gotten dark!" he said.

"Is it night already?" Hoshi inquired.

"This can't be right," Amara said.

"No, t-this is...!" Piccolo said, sensing something. Dende, Mr. Popo, and Kosumo sensed it as well.

"Shenlong is coming out?" Goku asked, looking toward Kuririn. "W-why!"

"Bulma-san and the others must have gathered the Dragonballs," Kuririn replied, turning to the Saiyajin. "She must not know the situation yet! Why would she call up Shenlong?"

"She's trying to wish back the people Vegeta and I killed today at the tournament grounds!" Amara said grimly, her eyes dark.

Everyone looked at her in surprise, though two of them for a different reason.

"K-killed!" Kuririn asked. "W-What you mean, Amara!"

"Mama!" Hoshi said, looking up at her mother in bewilderment.

Now that they knew the truth, Amara couldn't even look towards them.

"T-this is bad!" Dende fretted. "If all three wishes get granted, it will be another year before any more wishes are possible!"

There was a communal cry of dismay.

"Okay, I'll go right away and stop them," Goku declared.

Drawing his right index and middle fingers to his forehead, Goku scanned the world below.

"Damn, Bulma and the others' ki are hard to search out," the Saiyajin swore.

All over West City, the citizens had stopped what they're doing to stare in shock at the massive creature hovering over them in the now night-like sky, unable to believe what they were seeing.

Back at Capsule Corporation, Shenlong lowered his head towards the tiny specks who had summoned him from his peaceful slumber.

"I shall grant theee any three wishes," the Eternal Dragon rumbled. "Speak thy wishes now!"

"A-am I dreaming?" the thunderstruck Videl was wondering.

"Um, how shall I word this...?" Bulma wondered.

"Such a hassle!" Yamucha said. "Bring back everyone that died today! Oh, and leave out the bad guys!" The scar-faced warrior looked over towards his wife. "That should do it, right dear?"

"Thank you!" Bulma replied with gratitude.

"Bring back those people from the dead?" Videl echoed. "Is that really possible?"

"All right," Shenlong said, his eyes glowing a brighter shade of red for a moment. "Your first wish is granted."

At the half-wrecked Budokai tournament and the adjoining city, those who were wrongly killed brought back to life just as Shenlong guaranteed it. Overjoyed that they were back alive, the people rejoiced.

Over where Babidi's ship used to be, a revitalized Kibito was rising back up to his feet and staring at himself in amazement.

Goku was still having a hassle searching for the ki of his wife and friends, when suddenly, he found it.

"There it is!" he cheered.

And Goku was gone in a flash by Shuken Idou...

At once, he reappeared in front the others at Capsule Corp.

"I shall now hear your second wish," Shenlong boomed impatiently.

"Aw, hell!" Goku said in dismay. "I wasn't in time!"

The others stared back at the Saiyajin in surprise.

"-Son-kun!" "-Goku!" "-Goku!"

"Goku-sa, where have you been?" Chichi demanded immediately. She then immediately noticed the absence of a couple of people, and stepped forward to confront her husband. "Where's Gohan! Where's Goten!"

"Chichi, there ain't time for this!" Goku said pressingly. "I'll tell you later."

Goku drew the first two fingers of his right hand to his forehead again. _*Dende, can you hear me?*_

_*Yes,* _came the reply.

_*I was a bit late. Shenlong has already granted a wish, but just one. What should I do?*_

There was a pause, as the question was thought over.

Then Dende's voice replied, _*In that case, please tell him the other two wishes are all right for now. If there's only been one, then we can use him again in four months.*_

_*So that's it, got it!* _Goku replied. _*Oh, and one other thing. Everyone's gathered together here, so tell Kuririn for me that I'll bring everyone there.* _

_*Yes. Understood.*_

With that settled, Goku broke out into a jog towards Shenlong, stopping when he drew up in front of him.

"Shenlong! That's all the wishes this time around!" Goku told him. "Thank you! We'll be counting on you next time!"

"Well then, farewell," Shenlong replied. So saying, Shenlong dispersed into the lighting and shot back down into the Dragonballs. The Dragonballs then rose into the air and scattered off in different directions. Afterwards, the sky quickly changed from ebony back to blue.

"W-what is it, Goku!" Yamucha asked, baffled. "What the hell is going on now?"

Goku explained to them what was going on, though not _everything_. That would wait until they were all back at the palace.

"Got it," Bulma understood. "In another four months, I'll be sure to find the seven Dragonballs again!"

"Yeah, we're counting on it!" Goku replied. "Okay, everyone grab onto me. I'm going to Shuken Idou us there."

"Sure," said a voice Goku didn't recognize, following someone placing a hand on his right shoulder.

"Huh?" Goku asked, looking sidelong to see who it was. He did a double-take when he actually saw who it was, yelping in surprise as he fell down on his rear. "Y-you are Juunana-gou, aren't you! What are you doing here?"

Juunana-gou burst out in laughter. "You're really just noticing I was here?" he asked, clearly very amused. He smirked. "Lucky for you I don't obey Dr. Gero's programming, huh, Son Goku?"

Goku was even further surprised when the dark-haired man held out a hand towards him. When a moment passed and Juunana-gou didn't attempt to kill even once, the Saiyajin smiled and allowed him to help him up.

"Er, thanks," Goku said, still not knowing how to react to the raven-haired cyborg's sudden appearance.

"You don't have to worry about Juunana-gou-san, Son-kun," Bulma said, smiling. "He came with us because he wanted to see Juuhachi-gou-san."

"Is that so?" Goku replied. "Okay, let's try this again. Everyone grab onto me."

A moment later, the group stood in more or less of a straight line with Roshi holding onto Goku's right arm, Oolong holding onto Goku's right knee, Puar perched on Goku's right shoulder, Chichi holding onto her husband's left shoulder, the Ox King holding onto his daughter's right shoulder and Juunana-gou's left shoulder, with Yamucha holding onto the Jinzouningen's right shoulder and his wife's left shoulder, who held her daughter in her hands. The only ones that weren't in line, was a confounded Videl, and Bulma's parents.

"Papa, Mama, what are you doing?" she asked. "Hurry and join hands."

Dr. Briefs and Mrs. Briefs shared a secret smile, before turning back to their daughter. Dr. Brief's pet cat, Tama, perched on his left shoulder.

"We can't bear to leave our animals behind, so we're going to remain here," Bulma's father said.

"W-what are you saying?" Bulma demanded. "Surely seeking shelter for yourselves is more important than your pets right now! Right, Mama?"

"Bulma, if Mama is killed by this Majin Buu, you can just bring us back to life with the Dragonballs," Mrs. Briefs said simply. She turned to touch her husband's left shoulder. "Mama is staying with Papa."

"Y-you can't..." Bulma argued. She turned toward Goku. "Son-kun?"

Goku looked at his long-time friend remorsefully. "Bulma, if the worst happens, you have to search for the Dragonballs."

Seeing that he was right, Bulma nodded.

"Huh?" Chichi said, finally noticing that Videl hadn't join hands with anyone yet. "Videl-san, aren't you goin'?"

"Yes, I'm going!" Videl replied quickly, arms flailing. "I'm going!"

She hastily rushed over to latch onto Bulma's free hand, sighing in relief.

"All right! Everybody, let's go!" Goku said. With those words, Goku transported himself and the others away.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	38. World's Most Wanted

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of their are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: World's Most Wanted**

* * *

"T-this... this is unreal," Kibito stammered softly, staring wide-eyed down at himself in sheer disbelief.

Wasn't he just dead? He clearly remembered the King of the Demon Realm discovering that he and the others were watching from nearby, and his subsequent surprise attack. He could also still remember the fear that had froze him in place, as Dabura had appeared right in front of him, hand stretched out in front of his face, and the energy blast he fired at point- blank range, killing him in a instant.

And yet, here he was still alive. Somehow...

The assistant of the last living Kaioushin had always believed planet Earth to be a primitive planet that was nothing really special. But could this world actually have a heaven-sent ability to bring people back from the dead? He wondered if Kaioushin-sama and Kosumo-sama were aware of this-

Kaioushin-sama and Kosumo-sama! Kibito had been so stunned of his revival, that he didn't immediately realize that his lord and the Guardian of Cosmos were gone. In fact, so were those Saiyajins and their allies. Atop of that, he was now standing in the center of a massive crater. Had the landscape underwent some kind of change while he was gone?

Kibito shook his head, now was not the time to be worrying about such things. Rising up to his feet, Kibito used his ki to levitate himself out of the crater. Once he touched back down on firm ground again, however, Kibito froze and stared in amazement. Although he had told himself not to be concerned with the surroundings, he couldn't help himself as his eyes took in the desolated features of the vicinity he was in.

_*A fierce battle has been fought here recently,* _he realized. _*From the looks of things, there was more than one battle. But who was fighting? What in the name Kaioushin is happening here?*_

Kibito realized more than ever that he needed to find his god. As he scanned the area, Kibito broke out into a smile when he abruptly located Kosumo's ki. Wherever the Guardian of Cosmos was, she was in very good condition, and from what he was feeling, she was also with Son Goku and his friends. But he frowned when he realized that Kaioushin wasn't with them.

He continued his search. In the next instant, Kibito's flew wide open in alarm when he turned his head toward the west. For one thing, he had found Kaioushin's ki, however...it was frighteningly weak! But there was another reason why he looked so shocked. Further beyond the point he had located his god's ki, he could also feel the familiar twisted ki of Babidi, however, he knew he wasn't alone. Wherever the warlock was, he was standing very close to a ki far more terrifying than Dabura's.

With an expression of hopelessness, Kibito realized that kind of strength could only belong to one being.

"What a dark outlook," he murmured forebodingly, his words sounding even grimmer, as they were carried off on a passing breeze. For a small time, Kibito's expression had become bleak. After all that time spent trying to prevent the return of the Majin, in the end all of their efforts had been utterly meaningless, and now not only the planet but the rest of the universe was in great peril. A moment later, his face finally cleared and it was twisted in resolve.

He knew that it would do him no good to just stand there and wallow in his failure, especially now that Majin Buu had been restored. Because with every second that past, Majin Buu was doubtless killing innocent people and destroying their homes and lives. It was now time to take immediate action. He certainly didn't know how anyone would be able to stop Majin Buu. Not even Kaioushin could.

Speaking of which, there was still the matter of finding his master and revitalizing him before his condition became any more serious. A white, fiery aura burst from his body as he lifted off the ground and flew off at full speed in the direction he had felt Kaioushin's ki. A short time into his flight had brought him to a canyon. Peering downward and turning his head this way and that, he scanned the valley carefully. Within the next few minutes, Kibito had ultimately located Kaioushin, and his usually somber-face lit up in elation.

Alighting, Kibito quickly broke out into a run towards the all-too-familiar lavender man lying dismally still on the ground.

"K-Kaioushin-sama!" he called desperately. He was elated when he got an answering moan. Apparently, his god had fallen into a state of semi-consciousness from blood loss. For a brief second, Kibito allowed himself to be awash in shame for not being there for his master when he'd obviously needed him. Then the moment passed; he was here with him now and that's all that mattered. Clearing his throat, Kibito extended out his hands and pinched his face in concentration.

"Kaifuku!" he called, golden waves of energy emanating from his palms and showering down on his weakened master and friend. Only a second after his wounds had been healed and his strength had been restored, Kaioushin's eyes flew open with a start, and he gasped. Pushing himself up and looking around, the supreme deity nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his long-time assistant grinning back at him in relief.

"Kibito!...I-I t-thought you were..." Kaioushin had to catch himself, as he was starting to stutter.

Kibito chuckled down at his master, dropping a hand on Kaioushin's right shoulder.

"Dead?" he finished. "So did I, but somehow I'm alive again. This world seems to possess strange powers that not even we were aware of."

For a second, Kaioushin's startled expression melted into a smile, feeling relieved to see that his follower and partner was alive and well. Then his eyes widened, as he just remembered something.

"Son Gohan!" Kaioushin suddenly said with urgency, rising to his feet. "We have to find Gohan-san!"

Before Kibito could ask him why, Kaioushin had kicked off the ground and rocketed away. Kibito immediately took to the air after him. The two resembled streaks of white light through the sky, soon approaching a groove of trees. Before he had been nearly on his way to falling unconscious, Kaioushin had felt Gohan's ki somewhere in these parts; it had been very weak before, and now it felt even more so.

_*Please be alive Gohan,* _Kaioushin pleaded silently to himself. *_I'm going to need your help in defeating Majin Buu!*_

"Look, Kaioushin-sama! There he is up ahead!" Kibito exclaimed.

Kaioushin did look in front of them, and saw what Kibito was talking about. Sprawled beside a bush, surrounded by curious looking forest animals was Gohan, unconscious and unmoving. His form fitting bodysuit was cut in several places. And his expression was twisted in pain; his was mouth opened wide and trickling with blood, and his eyes had lost its pupils.

As soon as Kaioushin and Kibito had touched down beside the comatose warrior, the animals that had gathered around him went scampering away. But the two didn't even pay any attention to them, as their attention was mainly focused on the unconscious half-Saiyajin. Leaning down beside him, Kaioushin checked for Gohan's pulse right away. A second later, a smile of relief split the deity's face.

"Good, he's still alive," he murmured.

With a nod, Kibito spread his hands out over Gohan and prepared to heal him, however, Kaioushin grabbed his arm to stop him.

"No, not here, Kibito," he said. "We'll restore Gohan to full health...back on our world in the Kaioushin Realm."

"NANI!" Kibito yelled, his eyes doubled its normal size and his jaw dropped in an uncharacteristic display of shock at the mere mention of letting a mere human come to their holy world. "B-but Kaioushin-sama! The Kaioushin Realm is a sacred place. It is a holy region where not even the Grand Kaiou is allowed to enter."

Kaioushin looked over at his assistant patiently. "That doesn't matter anymore, we need Gohan. He and his great strength is our only hope against Majin Buu now."

Kibito wanted to argue some more about Kaioushin's idea, but soon just let out a heavy sigh of resignation. After all, his master has never steered him wrong and always knew what he was doing. Though he still didn't completely agree with the idea.

"What about Kosumo-sama?" Kibito asked. "Shouldn't we go-"

"No," Kaioushin replied, shaking his head. "Kosumo-sama has another mission to fufill, and as do we. Now, let's get going."

"R-Right."

"Kai Kai!" Kaioushin called. Shortly, the two of them phased out of sphere in a circle of light with their inanimate passenger.

* * *

_*Time to eat,* _Majin Buu decided, as he was still flying with Babidi on his back, who was saying he was going to do this and that to his enemies, however, the Majin had stopped listening to him in favor of listening to his stomach. The last thing he ate was that one, red smart-aleck guy, however, now he wanted more!

Oh! Maybe that large city they were approaching had some food? With his mind made, Buu hurtled towards the city.

"M-Majin Buu! Where are you going!" Babidi demanded.

Instead of answering, Buu gained more speed, and the warlock was forced to hang onto his slave's cape for dear life again, wailing at the top of his lungs. As soon as they arrived in the city, Majin Buu touched down in the middle of the street downtown. His landing was so abrupt that Babidi lost his grip on his cape and fell off, landing on the road on his backside.

Within moments, people had gathered around Majin Buu and Babidi to stare in various levels of curiosity at two of the oddest beings most of them had ever seen. Suddenly, a gold car screeched to a stop behind the Majin and Madoshi.

"Hey, you!" shouted the driver, as he stepped out of his car. "Why don't you watch out! Really, you bastard!"

Seeing as how this creepy guy didn't seem to get the message, the driver slammed the door shut and started to stomp towards Majin Buu. However, he immediately stopped when Buu turned around to face him, regarding him with that characteristic deceitful smile of his.

"You're finished now. Bye-bye," Buu declared, waving in finality toward unwitting man.

"Bye-bye?" the man repeated, bewildered. He wasn't used to someone telling him bye-bye during a fight.

Momentarily, Majin Buu grabbed a part of his pudgy stomach, and the onlookers watched in horror as Buu ripped a piece of his skin off. Stretching it out, he started twirling it menacingly. Babidi watched on in quiet amusement; yes, they would see just how terrible his Buu could be.

"You're a smart-aleck!" Buu said, then flung his skin at the hapless man. The man let out a cry of shock, as the skin wrapped itself around his body, and pulled him down to the ground. Clenching his fist, the Majin ordered, "Squeeze!"

On order, the piece of skin constricted itself against the man incredibly tightly. Within seconds, the man was dead. There were more screams of horror, but Buu paid no attention to that at all, as he turned and headed off in the direction of that delicious smell he sensed closeby.

"W-where are you going!" Babidi demanded. He had no choice but to follow after his servant again.

People instantly fled from Majin Buu as he approached, screaming in terror. Again, Majin Buu paid no attention to them, as he had found the source of the scent he smelled- a bakery shop.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Babidi called frantically from behind. "Buu!"

Stepping forward, the door started to slid open to let him in, but the impatient Majin didn't let the door slide all the way open, and walked into the door. Two waitresses inside watched him in uneasy astonishment, as Buu continued to try to force his way inside. Majin Buu succeeded at last, his large body shattering the glass door into shards as he entered inside. A waitress dropped a tray she had been carrying in shock, and customers inside quickly headed past Majin Buu towards the exit.

"C-customer, sir, are you hurt?" one of the waitresses, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed young woman, asked.

Majin Buu ignored her and walked further into the room- specifically, over to the glass cases and shelves filled with different varieties of sweets. The Majin laughed elatedly.

"Welcome!" greeted the other waitress nervously. "What can we get for you?"

"Everything!" Majin Buu answered curtly, and he walked over towards the cases.

"Everything, you say?" the girl asked incredibly.

Bending down in front of the case, Majin Buu shattered the glass easily with his hand, and then proceeded to scarf down all the cakes in the room. Nearby, the two waitresses watched on horror.

"Majin Buu! What are you doing!" Babidi demanded from the doorway. "Let's go!"

"Still don't feel like I've eaten," Majin Buu answered as he stood up. Smelling for food nearby, Majin Buu walked with a care through a glass case, and then through the wall.

Babidi and the two waitresses followed after Buu, and when he found him he was eating more cakes a rapid pace. The two were now standing in the kitchen where all the bakery goods were made, however, none of the workers were working as they were too busy running for their lives. Meanwhile, one was lying unconscious among a group of boxes, obviously the result of him getting in the way of the hungry Majin.

"Okay! That should be enough, right!" Babidi yelled. "Let's go!"

"Still don't feel like I've eaten," Majin Buu replied.

Babidi took a step back to allow Majin Buu space, as he walked off in search of more food.

"Ah, wait a minute!" Babidi shouted. "Majin Buu!"

Babidi tried to follow him, but his cape got caught on something. Swivelling his head around, he saw that it was the brunette waitress, the heel of her show pressed down hard on his cape to prevent him from going anywhere; the woman glared down at him. He scowled right back at her as if something very disgusting had just touched him.

"W-what are you doing!" he demanded. "Let me go! How ill-mannered of you!"

"You're the ill-mannered on here, aren't you Uncle?" the young woman countered.

"Uncle!" Babidi repeated in annoyance.

"Please pay for these cakes!" the woman ordered. "Include the cost for repairs to the door, the show window, and everything else, if you please! I won't let you go until then."

"Sweetheart, you don't seem to know who I am," Babidi retorted.

"Not in the least!" the woman said uncaringly.

Babidi glowered at the woman. "You'll learn whether you want to or not soon enough, but I'll tell you anyway. Whether or not this world continues on its way to destruction is entirely up to my will! I am Madoshi Babidi-sama!"

The warlock did not get the response had been going for, as the waitress roughly grabbed his cape with her hands.

"I don't care if you're a Madoshi or a Keiyoshi," she told them. "You'll have to pay your bill!"

Lifting him up into the air, the woman started spinning Babidi around.

"Rude wench!" Babidi screamed. Raising his hands, Babidi shouted, "PAPARAPAPA!"

Just as the woman released him, she materialized out of the room. Afterwards, Babidi slammed into the wall beside the other waitress, sliding down to the floor.

"She vanished!" the other waitress said in disbelief.

Glaring up at her, Babidi shouted, "Would you like to try vanishing too!"

"No!"

Meanwhile, the other poor waitress was screaming for help while hung on the side of a building.

Outside the Fresh Cake & Bread West Bakery, a horde of police officers were parked outside, with all their guns trained at the doorway.

"Attention criminals!" shouted the Sergeant through a bullhorn. "Case your futile resistance and come out quietly!"

"Majin Buu! Haven't you had enough yet!" Babidi was asking Buu inside the bakery.

"No good," Majin Buu replied, eating on another cake. "This cake is yummy, but doesn't make my tummy full."

"Majin Buu! Right now!" Babidi ordered. "Do you want to be sealed up again!"

As always, that one single threat got the results he wanted out of the Majin. Looking visibly irritated, Buu tossed the cake away, turned and slowly made his way towards the door. Babidi grinned in triumph before following after him a moment later.

Just as Majin Buu walked through a show window, a gun was aimed at him, accompanied by a gruff voice shouting, "Don't move!"

"Don't move!" repeated another officer, who also had his gun pointing at Buu.

"You're under arrest for destruction of property and failure to pay your check!" said the officer standing on his left. Right afterwards, said officer tried to slap a cuff on Buu's wrist, only to discover in shock that Majin Buu's wrist was entirely too large for it to fit.

Taking the cuffs away from the man, Buu lifted it up to study the handcuffs for a moment. Then he balled them up into a ball of metal and aimed it toward the sergeant. With a sharp blow, the Majin sent the ball of metal zooming through the air where it smashed the sergeant in the nose, knocking him to his feet. Instantly, the subordinate officers responded by firing rounds of bullets at this most bizarre criminal. But to their shock once more, the bullets had no effect whatsoever, and he pushed the bullets out of his body, resembling silver coins as they hit the ground.

The officers stared in equal dismay.

Inhaling, Buu exhaled out a ki blast at one of the cars, blowing it up easily.

"Still don't feel like I've eaten," Buu grumbled.

"Don't get so mad," Babidi said as he drew up abreast him. "Come on, let's go agonize Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and as well as their three other pals!" The warlock chuckled wickedly. "I'll teach them! I'll show them quite a scene real soon!"

* * *

Everyone out on the courtyard immediately looked around when they sensed Goku's arrival with the others, even before they materialized in front of them. Everyone except for Amara and Kosumo went over to greet them.

"Hey, guys. Nice to see ya'," Kuririn said with a affable wave and smile.

"So, how are things going?" Yamucha asked.

"Not really good," Piccolo answered solemnly, his mouth set in a grim line.

"Whoa! What in the world is this place?" Videl asked no one in particular, as he broke away from the group to stare up at God's Palace in awe. But no one had heard her to give an explanation.

"Eeeh! There's Amara!" Oolong suddenly yelped, pointing at the Saiyajin woman fearfully while backpedaling.

Those who had witnessed Amara's actions at the tournament earlier were also wary of the Princess. Standing by the palace, Amara couldn't help but to smirk in amusement, in spite of herself.

"Don't worry, everything's okay now," Goku quickly assured her. "Amara was under Babidi's spell, but she's completely cured now."

"Well, if you say so," Bulma replied, her and the others more or less relaxing.

"What's up with Bulma's father and mother?" Kuririn inquired.

"They couldn't stand to leave their pets behind," Bulma explained. "They said if they do get killed we can just bring them back to life with the Dragonballs."

"That's just like your parents, huh?" Kuririn asked sympathetically.

"I guess so."

"If only we knew where Tenshinhan and them are," Kuririn said. "We could let them take shelter here too."

It was right then and there that Piccolo took notice of the addition to the group. He grimaced.

"Juunana-gou!" he asked. "What are you doing here?"

The cyborged young man chuckled. "You guys are starting to sound like a broken record."

Privately, Amara was very surprised that she hadn't just noticed her rival's twin brother standing there just now.

"But why exactly are you here, Juunana-gou?" Kuririn asked, mystified and surprised.

"He's only here to see Juuhachi-gou-san?" Bulma replied. She then looked around questioningly. "Where is Juuhachi-gou, anyway? And Koji?"

"And where are Gohan and Goten?" Those were the first words that came out Chichi mouth since coming to the Lookout. She had already been worried sick over her missing sons after Goku and the others had returned from wherever they went, and Vegeta and his sister had killed all those people at the stadium. But as she didn't see heads or tails of either of her sons, that accustomed cold knot of dread that always appeared at times like theses magnified in the pit of her stomach.

Kuririn quailed. He was not looking forward to this part at all.

Goku frowned cheerlessly at his wife. This was the one thing he never wanted to tell his wife, but he knew that it would do him no good to keep this from her. Whirling back on her husband, Chichi had caught his expression and scowled suspiciously.

"Goku-sa! I asked you where Gohan and Goten were," Chichi snapped, worry making her temper flare. "So tell me!"

That cold knot grew even more, when she noticed the dark expressions on the faces Piccolo, Dende, Amara, and Kosumo. Juunana-gou was looking very intrigued by this.

There was a very long pause.

"Goku?" Kuririn urged.

"I'll say it, since it's something that has to be said," Goku said earnestly. "Goten, Koji, and Juuhachi-gou are all resting inside the palace..." He braced himself for what he had to say next. "...But Gohan and Vegeta are dead. They've been killed by Majin Buu."

Everyone who didn't already know of these events and wasn't a small baby gasped in stunned horror at the grizzly news. Instead of shedding tears for the death of her son, Chichi swayed on her feet and promptly fainted; her father quickly caught her before she could hit the ground and started fanning his hand over her face to revive her. Goku quickly moved to check on his wife as well.

Videl had heard Goku and froze solidly in place, aghast as her heart sunk all the way down to her feet. No, it just wasn't true! Gohan couldn't be dead! He just couldn't be!

"T-this is awful," Bulma said grievingly, tears slipping down out her eyes. Yamucha quickly gripped his wife's shoulders to steady her. "Both Gohan and Vegeta are..."

"I know," Yamucha said knowingly.

"Poor Chichi," Bulma said. "And poor Juuhachi-gou and Koji. how are we going to tell them about Vegeta?"

"You don't have to worry about me," said a familiar voice. All who could immediately looked towards the entrance of the palace to see Juuhachi-gou walking out, her eyes too dark to read. Pausing at the top of the stairs, Juuhachi-gou raised her head and her eyes cleared. "I already know about Vegeta...I know he's dead."

"There's something else you should also know," Piccolo said. "Majin Buu survived Vegeta's attack."

Juuhachi-gou's expression twisted in open shock.

"N-no way!" she exclaimed.

Juuhachi-gou couldn't believe it. If Majin Buu survived Vegeta's attack, then that only meant one thing...Vegeta did all of that for nothing. It was utterly meaningless. For a brief moment, Juuhachi-gou looked extremely put off as she stared down at the floor, however, she quickly hid her expression behind a mask as she looked back up at the others. A few caught the look, though only one stared in shock as they were hit by a sudden realization about the blonde woman.

"Where is Koji?" Juuhachi-gou demanded as she walked over towards them, finally voicing the question she'd been wanting to ask when she had come outside and hadn't seen her son around.

"He's asleep in the palace with Goten," Piccolo informed her.

"Oh," Juuhachi-gou replied, looking at the ground again.

"Eh? What's with that dreadful appearance, Juuhachi-gou?"

Juuhachi-gou immediately looked up as soon as she heard that only-too familiar voice. Her eyes flew wide and her eyebrows rose in shock when she saw her twin brother approaching her.

"Juunana-gou!" Juuhachi-gou said in shock. Had it not been for the situation, she would have wondered if this was another rare dream she was having.

"Yo," Juunana-gou replied as he drew up in front of her.

Already wound tight with emotions, Juuhachi-gou glared at her brother.

"Yo? Is that all you have to say after we haven't seen each other for seven years!" she demanded. "I thought you were dead!"

"Likewise," Juunana-gou answered in a more serious tone.

A look of surprise flashed across his sister's face. It had never once occurred to her that her brother was actually still alive and was searching for her as much as she was for him, but stopped when he believed she was dead.

"Goku, things have gotten awful, huh?" said another familiar voice.

"Karin-sama!" Goku said in surprise.

"I couldn't just sit still, you know?" Karin replied, drawing up beside Dende. "This enemy is even greater than the Furiiza or Cell you've fought up to now, Goku."

"Cell," Juunana-gou murmured, grimacing at painful memories. His sister was the only one who noticed this, and she understood fully how he felt.

Outside a large city, Babidi and Majin Buu stood together on a cliff, staring down at the metropolis.

"I'm hungry," Majin Buu said, still looking irritated about a certain someone interrupting his meal back at the last city.

"There's no helping you!" Babidi said resignedly. Momentarily, his face lit up malevolently. "I know! I just had a good idea! This should cheer you up."

"Goku, Kosumo-sama, let's hurry and teach them Fusion," Piccolo suggested.

"That's right," Goku agreed, while Kosumo nodded.

"Fusion?" Juuhachi-gou echoed, nonplussed.

No one said the grimace on Amara's face.

"To fight Majin Buu, we're going to try using a technique known as Fusion," Goku explained. "It's where two warriors with similar power fuse together into a even stronger fighter. We've already chosen Koji and Goten to learn this method."

"Koji...and Goten?" Juuhachi-gou repeated.

"Juuhachi-gou-san?" Hearing the Guardian of Cosmos, Juuhachi-gou's eyes slid across the courtyard and landed on the dark-haired woman. "Listen, we've also suggested that another Fusion take place..."

"Argh! Didn't I tell you to forget that?" Amara snapped. "I am not going through that nonsense!"

Juuhachi-gou lifted a brow at the other two women.

"What are you two talking about?" she wanted to know.

"Kosumo wants you and Amara to use the Galactic Rings to fuse together and fight Majin Buu," Piccolo supplied, his impatience clearly heard in his gruff voice.

"And I said I'm not doing it!" Amara snarled stubbornly.

"But honey..." Kuririn tried to reason, but quickly quieted when his mate fixed him with a fierce glare.

"Don't you honey me! I am not about to fuse with that Android!" she spat venemously.

Juuhachi-gou scowled stonily at the annoyed Princess. "For one of the few times, you and I are in perfect agreement, Amara.."

Amara glowered thunderously at the blonde woman, who met her look back fearlessly.

The moment of tense silence was abruptly interrupted.

_*Can you hear me, people of the Earth?* _asked an all-too familiar voice.

Everyone on the courtyard looked up in surprise. Inside the palace, standing in the hallway, Hoshi was looking around in equal surprise.

_*I am the Madoshi Babidi! Oh, don't try to look for me, you won't find me!* _Babidi's voice sneered. _*I'm speaking to your minds through magic. _

Back on the cliff, Babidi grinned to himself as he knew he surely had the attention of all the Earthlings now.

_*Sorry to interrupt while you're living peacefully,* _the warlock said peacefully, not sorry at all about doing such a thing. _*The thing is, I had a rather disagreeable thing happen to me today, at the hands of a certain group of five fools. I'm looking for these fools now. Close your eyes and watch, I'm about to project their images.*_

"What is he doing!" Goku asked in annoyance.

With no other choice, everyone listening closed their eyes.

_*Can you see them now?* _Babidi's voice asked. Abruptly, an image of a certain blonde-haired woman appeared. _*This one's name is Juuhachi-gou. And the next one's name is Amara.* _The image shifted to a picture of a scowling dark-haired woman.

At the Tenkai, there was more than one cry of surprise.

_*They are the biggest offenders, and here are their helpers!* _Right afterwards, images of Piccolo, Koji, and Goten appeared one by one.

_*Come on out!* _Babidi ordered. _*Certainly you five must know who you are yourselves. If you don't come out...I know, why don't we introduce ourselves?*_

Momentarily, Babidi's image appeared in everyone's mind, both his hands thrust up in victory.

_*I am the terrifying Madoshi Babidi-sama!*_

Subsquently, Majin Buu's image appeared, the Majin thrusting his fists in victory, too.

_*And this is my servant, the even more frightening Majin Buu! He's a strong one! There is utterly no one around who can beat him!* _

An image of the city the warlock and the Majin were watching appeared.

_*Can you see this city?* _Babidi asked. _*If those five fools do not come forward, let me show you a little of what will happen.*_

Piccolo's eyes flew open in horrid comprehension.

"S-stop!" he pleaded.

_*I don't care much for things to get all messy,* _Babidi said, staring back at all the viewers. _*so I will kill everyone in the city in a smartly manner! Okay, begin, Majin Buu!*_

On cue, Buu thrusted his gloved hands forward. Within the city, the citizens suddenly found themselves being lifted high up into the air by an unseen force.

"T-that scum!" Goku said angrily. "What is he planning to do!"

"What should I make you?" Majin Buu was wondering. "I've had enough cake, so...okay! You turn into hard candy!"

With his decision made, Majin Buu fired a Henka Beam at the hapless citizens. The people were hit on target, their cries for help coming to a halt, as they were all morphed into different colored hard candy. Everyone at God's Palace watched in equal horror as the Majin took a big inhale, sucking in all of the candy like a vacuum.

"T-that creepy bastard!" Amara hissed.

The grimace on the faces of Juuhachi-gou, Goku, Piccolo, and Kosumo intensified.

The people of Chikyuu looked on in total disgust and horror as they watched Majin Buu gobble down an entire population with a satisfied sigh, his belly growing even larger. To the far right Babidi laughed derisively at Majin Buu's dastardly deed, Babidi then swivelled to talk to the devastated people some more.

_*If those five don't show up, all the people on this planet will end up like this!* _Babidi pointed out, and cackled triumphantly.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	39. Amara and Juuhachigou Team Up Again

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ. Nor do I own all the scenes from this chapter as some of their are just modified versions from what you've seen on television so that it'll fit the story.**

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: Amara and Juuhachi-gou Team Up Again**

* * *

Madoshi Babidi was still laughing. He knew wherever his enemies were, Majin Buu's display of power just then had placed even more terror in their hearts. The mage knew it wouldn't be long before those fools showed his faces. Either if they showed their faces on their own, or someone blabbed about their locations, Babidi knew it was just a matter of time before he had them and his revenge.

"If those five don't come forward, everyone is going to be eaten up!" Babidi reinforced his threat. Turning to face his faraway audience, he added, "And now, there's no reason to have this city here with no people left in it, right?"

Beside him, Majin Buu nodded in agreement.

"I have no choice but to sweep it up for you!" Babidi said, grinning even more. "Okay, Majin Buu, make it clean! Not too hard, though, or the whole Earth might be wiped out!"

"Okay!" Majin Buu complied, grinning hugely as he thrust his fists up into the air. "Okay!"

Back up on the cliff, Majin Buu began to inhale, to the point that his stomach was larger than the rest of his body. To avoid being caught in the attack, Babidi hastily rushed over behind a rock to watch from a safe distance. Peering over the rim of the rock, he grinned gleefully. Momentarily, the Majin released his breath in one big exhale, demolishing the empty city completely within minutes. When he was finished, Majin Buu stood back and patted his large gut satisfactorily.

Babidi excitedly looked around the rock just in time to see the smoke from Majin Buu's attack completely ebb away, revealing a devastated city. Nothing was left standing. Coming out from behind the rock and drawing abreast of Buu again, the Madoshi observed it all proudly. He looked around again to face the viewers with a wicked grin.

"Sorry, looks like he messed it up instead!" Babidi said with feigned apology. "I'll say it one more time." As he spoke next, he showed images of his enemies once more. "Juuhachi-gou, Amara, him, him, and him. Tell me where they are, unless you'd rather be turned into candy and eaten by Majin Buu! Let's see, it will take about five days to exterminate every Earthing. And so, I think it would best if you tell me soon. Right, right! I almost forgot something important! How are you supposed to contact me?" Pointing at his temple, Babidi added, "Call to me inside your head. You just have to think out a little bit, and then you can talk to me. Of course, contact from those people themselves is most welcome!"

Moments later, Majin Buu was rising back into the air, with Babidi perched on his back, still grinning.

"So, remember, our next location might just be yours!" Babidi warned arrogantly. "And let me say now, that there's no use in hiding. After five days, I plan on blowing every last bit of the Earth into bits! Well, I'll be waiting for the information!"

With that, Majin Buu turned around to wave at the viewers.

Then the link was abruptly cut off.

Everywhere, frightened people were searching frantically and desperately for the whereabouts of the five people the one called Babidi had asked for.

"Hey! If he doesn't find them fast, we're all going to be turned to candy and eaten!"

"Doesn't anyone know them!"

"I don't know who you are, but where are you hiding! Come out now! We're going to be turned into candy and eaten because of you!"

"That Babidi's getting too cocky," Goku said in annoyance.

"D-damn that bastard!" Piccolo growled, his body shaking in impotent rage.

Nearby, Amara looked more enraged than he did. In fact, she was dangerously close to transforming as her hair kept flashing back and forth from black to gold, her lips drawn back in a snarl. Kuririn did his best to calm her down.

"I can't keep hiding like this!" Amara growled. "I am a Saiyajin- the Princess of my people! And someone dares to target my life! I won't stand for it!"

"Amara-chan, please, steady yourself," Kuririn pleaded. "There's nothing you can do right now. Majin Buu is just too strong."

Standing beside her brother, the expression on Juuhachi-gou's face was no different from that of Amara. Juunana-gou stood beside her in silent support.

Kosumo observed the two women with an unreadable expression.

"So those are the guys who killed Gohan-kun and Vegeta-san?" Bulma asked.

"Just what kind of guys are these?" Dende asked.

"Amara, now do you understand what I said earlier?" Kosumo asked, as she walked over toward the princess. "If Majin Buu and Babidi aren't stopped, this tragedy will continue on. Fusion is the only way. You must put your grievances in the past. Both of you." As she said that last part, she looked deliberately at Juuhachi-gou.

Amara looked as if she was going to argue, but instead, she looked away. Then she looked over at Juuhachi-gou, who she found was staring back at her.

"I've come to a decision," Piccolo abruptly said, immediately drawing everyone's gaze on him. "I can't bear to watch the number of causalities rise because of me...so, I'm going to turn myself in.

There was more than one cry of surprise

"Are you some kind of an idiot!" Amara snapped, glaring scathingly at the Namekseijin. "Do you really think Babidi and his pet monster are going to stop their killing spree even if they did get a hold of you!"

"B-but..." Piccolo growled, conflicted.

"If you want to be stupid, you can do it on your own!" Juuhachi-gou said, a icy blaze burning in her eyes. "I'm not about to sacrifice myself, or my son!"

Walking up to his old friend, Goku place a comforting hand on his left shoulder.

"Piccolo, they're right," he said gently. "Turning yourself over to them would be really foolish. And if they kill you, who's going to continue to teach the boys the Fusion technique after I have to go back to the Other World. Yes, more and more casualties will continue to grow, but remember we have Shenlong. We can always wish everyone back."

"Piccolo-san, what Goku say is right," Dende urged.

After a long time, an air of resignation came over Piccolo.

"All right, I understand," Piccolo said.

Meanwhile, Amara and Juuhachi-gou continued to hold each other's gaze intensely. For the longest of times the two rivals stared at each other, their eyes wordlessly asking one another if this is what either of them really wanted to do. The two of them have had a rivalry that went eleven years back. In their first battle, not only did Juuhachi-gou beat Amara with ease, but she had also shredded her of her dignity that day. Their second battle had happened right there on Earth, when Amara had first visited the planet after searching around the Jinzouningen. She'd become stronger than their last fight and badly wanted a rematch, unaware that the blonde woman was a lot stronger than their last meeting as well. Amara had gotten her wish, but didn't get what she wanted as Juuhachi-gou beat her again.

Although Amara had vowed to finally get her revenge when they met again, she had to reluctantly put their fued on hold and had to actually work together to stop their common enemy, Kaosu. Even after the Chaos Goddess had been destroyed, the two of them had never really settled things, due to them both settling down and having a family of their own. And even after Amara's brother had made her rival his lifelong mate, the two of them didn't exactly become friends; she absolutely refused to think of that woman as a sister! They just simply and unconsciously agreed to a truce for a little while. Finally, just hours ago, Amara had finally gotten her chance at vengeance when she allowed Babidi to possess her, turning her into of his Majin warriors so she could amplify her power, just as Vegeta had did. And just as Amara had planned, Babidi turned Juuhachi-gou into a Majin to increase her power as well.

When the two had fought, it had drew to a draw. But now, the two of them had another common enemy in the form of Majin Buu...And no matter how they felt about the other, this just couldn't continue.

"Are you certain this Fusion will work?" Amara asked. Some of the others stared in surprise.

"Does this mean...?" Kosumo started to ask.

"Well! Will it or not!" Juuhachi-gou asked impatiently.

Kosumo nodded. "If you want to fight Majin Buu, learning Fusion is the only way."

Amara and Juuhachi-gou exchanged glances again.

"All right," Amara said at last. "For the purpose..."

"...of Majin Buu's utter destruction-" Juuhachi-gou said.

"I will do the Fusion!" the two finished together.

Kosumo smiled in accomplishment. "Good. We can begin at once."

"That's taken care of," Goku said. "Now it's time to wake up the boys."

* * *

At this particular moment, a certain half-Saiyajin was beginning to stir from his deep sleep from within God's Palace.

Koji let out a loud yawn and stretched out his tired body, slowly freeing himself from the grips of sleep. But he made no move to get up out of bed right away and just rolled over to his back instead; the energetic youth usually wasn't so slow in waking up, however, he was just feeling too lazy right now to get up just yet. For a time he remained there, enjoying the nice feel of the soft bed and just as soft pillows beneath him.

Though, as time slipped by and he still hadn't moved, something about those last two details gradually started to strike him as being odd and wrong. Questions soon began to arise in his young, though precocious mind; now when exactly had he fallen asleep? He was almost certain that he'd just been doing something very important, but he just couldn't remember exactly what it was. Also, since when did his bed start to feel so incredibly comfy? Sure, his bed was comfortable, but not THIS much. And why was he suddenly seeing a memory of himself, his parents, and Goten somewhere out in a desert, where his father was actually hugging him?

It was at that very second that Koji's bright blue eyes flew open, and he sat up in bed with a start. His memories returned to him almost right away. He could remember now, he and Goten had went to where their fathers had gone and help them fight this Majin Buu character Videl had told them about. He also recalled his father fighting against Majin Buu...and had been losing very badly. He'd been so angry that someone had battered his father the way Buu had and had rushed in to help him without any regards for his own safety, and his mother and Goten had come along with him as well. They'd been able to stop Majin Buu's assault on his father, at least for the moment, and had freed Vegeta from that pink-glob like thing Buu had trapped him with; and he remembered his mother slapping him for being too reckless. But then, his father had started talking to him strangely about to taking care of each other, and that's when he actually hugged him. He couldn't believe it, his father had actually said he was proud of him. After all that time of wondering if he would ever be a worthy warrior in his father's eyes, he'd finally heard his father speak the words he'd been hoping to hear, but had always feared would never happen. Then he remembered someone had delivered a sharp blow to the back of his neck, and everything had went black as he passed out.

Who was it that had hit him? Had it been his father? And if so, then why?

When no answer for his questions came to him, Koji soon opted to take in the strange, new surroundings he'd awoken in. The little prince instantly found himself impressed as he noticed how nice and immaculate the room was. The walls were painted white, giving the room a sort of harmonious feel to it. The bed he was on, he noticed, was covered in lavender sheets and blanket, with matching colored pillows; lavender-hued drapes hung all around him, and a milk-glass surface framed the very top of the drapes over him.

Where was he?

Koji suddenly glanced sideways when he heard a familiar tune of loud snoring, smiling wryly as he already knew what he would find. Stretched out beside him was none other than Goten, sleeping loudly (as usual- something else he inherited from his father), a small bubble dilating then constricting at the corner of his mouth as his body automatically exhaled and inhaled.

Although, seeing his friend asleep beside him did raise a couple of more questions in his mind: what had happened to Goten? Koji remembered he'd been fine before he'd been knocked out. And just who exactly brought the two of them to this strange and unfamiliar place, anyway?

"Yo, Goten, time to wake up!" Koji shouted, shaking his friend's shoulders roughly. However, after doing that for about a minute, the only response Goten gave him was rolling over onto his side and continued his nap, snoring even louder. Koji glared down at his friend and crossed his arms. "Sometimes I don't know what to say about him."

In the next instant, Koji's lips quirked into a small, evil smile, unconsciously looking like a mirror image of his Juunana-ojisan, as inspiration struck him. Yes, it was true that his friend could sleep through anything, a earthquake even. But as deep as Goten sleeps, there's always one thing that could pull out of the depths of sleep: food.

Leaning down, Koji whispered temptingly into the sleeping boy's ear, "Oi, Goten-kun! It's time to eat!"

"Food! Where!" Goten hollered excitedly as he instantly awoke, sitting upright in bed; at the same time he accidentally hit his friend in the face and knocked him off the bed. When he didn't see the chicken he'd just been promised, his expression momentarily saddened, but then his eyes eventually fell onto the small, black-clad character sprawled on the floor, glaring up at him witheringly. Goten grinned down at his best friend in cheery confusion. "Koji-kun? What are you doing down there?"

"Nothing, Goten. I'm just down here tying my shoes," Koji replied tartly.

Goten paid little attention to the irritation in his friend's voice, as he was too busy taking in the surroundings of the room he and Koji were in like the latter had done a few minutes ago.

"Boy, this place sure is fancy," said Goten, staring at the room in admiration. "Where are we, anyway, Koji-kun?"

"How should I know?" Koji replied, standing back on his feet. "But more importantly, where are my Mama and Papa?" He briefly thought about that memory of his father hugging him. When his question couldn't be answered, Koji nodded shortly to himself, as if he'd just reached a decision. "Come on Goten, let's get outta this place. I'm starting to get hungry."

Koji didn't have to tell Goten twice, as the older boy practically jumped off the bed at the prospect of them finding something to eat. The two then quickly made their way out of the strange room, with no idea at all of where they were going. However, only a second after they'd left, a young girl holding a cup of water in her hands approached the room they had been in only seconds ago. She immediately froze in place at the doorway when she quickly noticed that the room was empty.

"Nani? Where'd they go?" Hoshi gasped. Without thinking, the young princess dropped the cup she'd been holding and briskly sprinted away from the room to tell an adult that the other two half-Saiyajin were missing.

In the opposite direction Hoshi had came and gone in, Koji and Goten were stealthily making their way down a hallway. Their mouths a perfect 'o' as they took in the vast and wondrous scenery all around them, and at the same time searched for an exit out of the mysterious place they had been put in.

"Oi, Koji! Maybe the way out is through those doors," Goten suggested when his dark eyes spotted two large doors up ahead, painted in a deep rich brown.

"You know what, Goten? I think you may be right two times today," Koji said. On that note, the two boys broke in a run towards the doors, crossing the distance between them in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, as the two pushed the doors opened together, their faces instantly fell when they peered inside and were greeted by another long stretch of hallway.

"Ah! Not another damn hallway!" Koji griped. But he soon let out a sigh of resignation, knowing that if he and Goten ever intended to see daylight again that they were going to have to go down the hall. "Come on, Goten." He took off down the hall, his best friend right beside him.

And during all that time, neither of the boys noticed the figure trailing them like a ghost. With a smile of amusement, the character followed behind the two boys some more.

The two half-Saiyajin had ran for several minutes when Goten had suddenly stopped after noticing something in an opened room he and Koji had passed. It was a moment later when Koji had noticed that Goten's ki wasn't beside him. Halting in his footsteps, Koji searched around wildly for his missing friend before finally discovering him standing in front of an open door a little ways down the hallway.

"Koji, come look!" Goten told him in a state of awe. Koji raised his head to where'd he pointed his finger and beamed when he saw what had captivated his friend so. They were standing outside of a kitchen.

"Alright, Goten, good lookout! And ya' know where there's a kitchen, then there's-"

"Food!" Goten finished eagerly.

"Well, what're we waiting for, lets go chow down!" Koji said exuberantly, and so saying the two went on in.

Both the half-Saiyajin were still completely oblivious to the pair of eyes that monitored them as they dug inside the fridge of the spacious kitchen, fishing out all kinds of rations and pouring them onto the table. The being decided not to impose on them, knowing they boys deserved a good meal after sleeping for three whole hours.

"Hey Koji-kun...who do you think owns the place?" Goten asked between bites of the apple he was eating.

"Don't know. But whoever they are, they sure do have good grub around here," Koji replied after swallowing some chicken curry.

The being suppressed a smirk when he saw Goten start to choke on the white, fluffy dumplings they'd found in the fridge; he reached over and grabbed a jug of water to wash the food down. So much like his father, that one was. As Koji was taking a chunk out of the chicken leg he was holding in his hand, he took a peek over at Goten and sweat dropped in embarrassment when he saw the other half-Saiyajin taking enormous bits of his rice cake, finishing it in three gulps.

The two immediately glanced around when they suddenly heard footsteps approaching them. Both boys froze in their seats when they saw someone standing in the doorway; it was a short, portly being with very dark skin, dressed in garbs that gave the two half-aliens the impression of a genie.

"Young ones, are you enjoying yourselves?" Mr. Popo asked, his voice full of amusement.

Koji and Goten quickly dropped the food in their hands, as if they'd both just been caught robbing a bank.

"Ikisho! Lets bail!" Koji told Goten.

The two instantly launched themselves off the ground and shot passed the djinn, who wisely ducked as the boys flew out of the room. Though, before they could get very far, a pair of hands reached out and grabbed the boys by the ankle.

"Hey, let us go!" The boys yelled in unison, struggling with all their might to get free from their captor. Whoever they were, they were pretty strong.

"Yamero!" Koji and Goten stopped squirming when they heard a familiar female voice with the dry inflection to it.

"Kaasan!" Koji exclaimed jovially, very happy to see his mother, even if she was fixing that stern glare of hers on him at the moment. A second later, Juuhachi-gou released the boys and sat them back on the ground.

"What are you two up to this time?" Juuhachi-gou asked suspiciously, knowing just how shifty and roguish her son and his friend could be. The blonde woman stood before them completely healed as Amara was.

"Aaa, so there you boys are," a familiarly bright, cheerful voice cut them off before the two boys could explain themselves to Juuhachi-gou. Everyone looked around and saw Goku and Hoshi. "You know, ya' shouldn't have wandered off like that. You two gave lil' Hoshi here a scare."

"That's right!" said Hoshi, grimacing at the pair.

It was right then that Koji looked up and noticed his mother's brother standing next to her. Catching his curious expression, Juuhachi-gou thought it was time to introduce her son to his uncle.

"Yo, kid," Juunana-gou said with a small wave, smirking down at the young boy in amusement.

"Oh! Koji, this is my brother I've told you about," she said. "Your uncle, Juunana-gou," she said.

"Uncle?" Koji repeated, staring up at the dark-haired jinzouningen in amazement. His mother had told him about Uncle Juunana-gou, but he thought she said he was dead. Then, Koji remembered his situation. "Mama, what is this weird place we're in? And where is Papa?"

"Yeah, and where's Big Brother?" Goten asked, blinking up at his father with curious eyes.

Both Juuhachi-gou and Goku inwardly froze from the questions. Now how to tell the two boys that the two people they cared about the most were gone?

* * *

Faraway from the Lower Realm, there was a green planet surrounded by many moons. Down below on the planet, in a verdant region beside a lake, a sphere of gold light touched down on the ground. The sphere vanished, leaving behind Kaioushin and Kibito, who was carrying the unmoving Son Gohan in his arms.

Kaioushin sighed in content as he glanced around at the scenery, content to be back home and in one piece. Kibito shared that sentiment, even if he was fixing their unconscious guest and unfriendly scowl, as he carefully laid him on the ground.

Kibito held no ill-feelings towards Son Gohan, he just had strong reservations about who should step foot on this world and who shouldn't. This was the Kaioushin Realm, a consecrated world where no lower being was ever allowed to step foot. Not even Grand Kaio. And now this. He really didn't like Gohan being there, but he his god was okay was this, so he had no choice but to go along with this. However, the knowledge that it was only because of the dire situation back on Earth that his god would allow a human to enter this holy region made his uneasiness of the teenager's presence there slowly lessen.

Kaioushin took his eyes off the scenery around him and back onto the motionless silhouette sprawled beside him on the ground. His dark gaze then shifted toward Kibito.

"Okay, Kibito, restore Gohan-san's power," Kaioushin told him.

Kibito nodded. "Right."

Kibito placed a hand down on Gohan's chest, and his body flared with energy as he went to work rejuvenating the teen. His power spread across the half-Saiyajin in gentle waves, and within a few moments all of his bruises had completely diminished. Other than the rips in his bodysuit, it was the only sign Gohan had ever been in battle. Color flushed back into Gohan's lifeless face, and slowly, his eyes fluttered opened.

Kaioushin and Kibito stepped back to give Gohan some room as he sat up, looking utterly befuddled.

"H-huh?" Gohan asked. Immediately, he began recollecting his memories of being blasted into the air by Majin Buu. Looking around, the half-Saiyajin was surprised when he saw Kaioushin and Kibito standing on either side of him. "Kaioushin-sama..."

Gohan quickly rose up to his feet, glancing around in confusion.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"The Kaioushin Realm," Kaioushin explained. "Or if you like, my world."

"Kaioushin-sama's...?" Gohan replied in wonder. "S-so that's it. I've died after all, haven't I?"

However, when he looked to see his own halo, he surprised when he saw nothing hovering over his head.

"Huh? I don't have a halo like Dad does..."

Kaioushin smiled in amusement. "No, you're okay. It was close, but you are alive."

"Then, why am I in a place like this?" Gohan asked.

"What do you mean by calling the Kaioushin Realm "a place like this!" Kibito asked defensively.

Gohan turned around to face the deity assistant.

"From the beginning, the Kaioushin Realm was a holy place, where not even Kami or Kaiou could come, let alone humans."

Gohan gasped as he remembered something. "Surely, you're supposed to be dead! Can you come back to life?"

Kibito looked stumped by that question.

"N-no, I cannot," he admitted. "I don't understand myself, but for some reason, I have come back to life. A strange thing has happened."

"Ah, really?" Gohan replied, scratching his head. He turned back to Kaioushin. "Why have you brought me here?"

"I would like to know that as well!" Kibito said boldly. "Kaioushin-sama, why do you permit a human in this holy place?"

"We're going to use the Z-Sword to defeat Majin Buu!" Kaioushin replied, clenching his fist in determination. "Knowing Gohan-san, he's sure to be able to use that blade."

"T-the Z-Sword!" Kibito exclaimed in disbelief. "A-are you in your mind, Kaioushin-sama? There is no way any human should be able to use the Z-Sword! Not that legendary blade, which so many Kaioushin-sama before could do nothing with, let alone myself! Not even Kosumo-sama could accomplish such a feat!"

"Kibito, you were dead, so you do not know of Gohan-san's unbelievable, amazing power," Kaioushin answered patiently.

"Z-Sword?" Gohan repeated.

"B-b-but, no matter how strong he is..." Kibito stammered.

"In any case, let us go try it," Kaioushin replied. "Son Gohan-san, come with us."

Kaioushin stepped forward. When Gohan nor Kibito followed immediately, he briefly stopped to give them a look before he rose up into the air and took off. Still completely lost about what was happening, Gohan broke out into a brief run and leaped into the air to follow after the deity. Kibito remained behind, an expression of dumbfoundment on his face.

"Entrusting the Z-Sword to a human..." Kibito murmured in stupor. "Kaioushin-sama...what in the world!"

Wanting to see this for himself, Kibito finally rocketed off after the pair. Drawing abreast Gohan, Kibito gave him an evaulating look.

"Those rags you're wearing aren't fitting for this holy region," he opined.

"Huh?" Gohan replied, looking at the deity assistant in confusion. Before Gohan could react, Kibito abruptly aimed his left index finger at him, and the tip of his finger gleamed. That same gleam engulfed Gohan, and the half-Saiyajin watched in shot as the remainder of his Great Saiyaman costume morphed into a uniform that was similar to the attire Kaioushin and Kibito were wearing. He was even wearing the same earrings, though his were blue.

Looking back over his shoulder, Kaioushin saw the teenager in his new attire and smiled in approval.

"It suits you well, Gohan-san," he commented.

"If you say so," Gohan answered with a half-laugh.

* * *

"Y-you're lying! Papa wouldn't let himself be beaten by that guy!" Koji shouted at his mother, after being told his father had died in battle. He tried his best not to cry, but it was difficult.

On the other side of the room, Goten was sobbing loudly.

"Big brother is dead!"

"Stop crying! There ain't any time for it!" Goku said harshly; now was not the time for him to be soft.

Standing nearby with Amara, Piccolo, and Kosumo, Juuhachi-gou wished she could comfort her son. But she knew Goku was right, weeping would change nothing. This was why she had been hoping he would never have to endure the kind of battles her and his father did until he much older.

Amara looked at Goku in approval. While he seemed like an oversoft idiot, he apparently knew when it was time to get down to business.

"If you don't like it, then hurry and learn this new technique and avenge them!" Goku told them. "Got it!"

With difficulty, both Goten and Koji turned around before Goku and got into position.

"I know this seems harsh, but there's no telling when Babidi will find out about this place," Goku told them in a more gentle tone. "We have to start training immediately."

"Will you be using the Room of Spirit and Time?" Piccolo asked.

"No. You can only use that room for two days during your lifetime, right?" Goku asked. "There might be a time where they need it afterwards. But that's okay, they'll make Fusion their own in a considerably short time."

"What is this Room of Spirit and Time?" Kosumo inquired.

"It's a room that leads to a different dimension where fighters can get a lot of training done in a short amount of time," Goku explained.

"Really?" Kosumo replied. "Yes, I can definitely seeing us using this Room of Spirit and Time. But for Juuhachi-gou-san's and Amara-san's training, they won't need it right now. To master my type of Fusion, they must be completely of one mind."

"One mind?" Amara asked. "What do you mean?"

"Yes, one mind. You both must perfectly link your minds together," Kosumo replied. "And when the two of you can do that, you'll be able to fuse."

"Well, time to get started," Goku said. He looked back over to his son and Koji, never noticing them regarding him with very hard expressions. "Alright, you two, first I need for you to morph into Super Saiyajin and power up as high as you can, and-nani ka?"

Goku broke off in his words when he finally noticed Goten and Koji scowling at him. Their expressions were one of defiance and anger all rolled up into one. Goku stared back at them blankly.

"Huh? What's wrong you guys?"

"Just one question," Koji began, schooling his face into a mask of impassiveness he had inherited from his mother. "Uncle, where were you when Papa and Gohan-san were getting killed?"

Goku looked wide at Koji at the harshness of voice; no doubt about it now he really is the son of the Saiyajin Prince. And from the expressions on both the young half-Saiyajin's faces, they weren't going to budge until he gave them an answer.

"Umm the truth is...I was knocked out."

Koji and Goten both gaped at the same time, and then scowled in matching disdainful anger.

"Knocked out? You mean you were unconscious?" Koji asked incredulously. He glared at the dead warrior. "Are you sure you aren't just a coward?"

"We won't get stronger learning techniques from someone who doesn't fight, and just runs away and hides!" Goten said just as resentfully.

"Koji!" Juuhachi-gou exclaimed.

"Goten!" Piccolo barked. "W-why you two rotten...! Goku is-!"

"It's okay, Piccolo," Goku told him. "I really am a coward. Unfortunately, I ain't able to beat Majin Buu. But even if I am a coward, I can still teach you this Fusion techinque. If you really want to avenge Vegeta and Gohan, this is the only way."

Both Koji and Goten considered that for a moment.

"What should we do?" Koji asked, turning to his best friend.

"Even so..." Goten started.

_*Here I am again!* _the familiar voice of Babidi appeared out of nowhere. Everyone immediately looked around warily. _*People of the Earth! It's Madoshi Babidi and Majin Buu! This time, we've found a city much larger than before! This place is going to be wiped out. Unless, Juuhachi-gou, Amara, the green one, and those two brats show up here immediately.*_

"H-he's talking about us!" Koji realized in shock.

"Koji-kun, close your eyes and watch!" Goten told him, his eyes screwed tight. "You can see Buu and him!"

"Koji, don't!" Juuhachi-gou shouted.

"You're both better off not seeing!" Piccolo agreed.

"No," Amara disagreed. "If they're going to participate in this battle, then they need to see everything Majin Buu's capable of. They can't be babied!"

Koji closed his eyes, and let out a cry of shock at what he saw.

Meanwhile, Babidi had his hand to his hear, as if he was listening for something.

"Well, well, there's still no word from those people themselves, or from anyone else," Babidi said. He grinned and crossed his arms. "What a predicament! The casualties are only going to increase! I know, last time it was hard candies, so...hmm, this time, turn them all into chocolate or whatever and eat them, Buu!"

Majin Buu licked his lips, loving the sound of that idea.

"All right, Majin Buu, turn every last person in this city into chocolate!" Babidi ordered.

Cheering, the Majin used his telekinesis ability to lift up all of the citizens off the ground and into the air.

"Aaaaahhhhh!" Koji and Goten cried, when they observed Majin Buu turning all those people into chocolate from a ray of pink light coming out of his antenna and then proceeded to scarf most of them down his belly. And those he didn't eat, the Majin fused the chocolates with a Henka Beam while directing it towards the city, demolishing it in a instant.

"W-why those...!" Piccolo snarled.

Majin Buu is then seen rubbing his belly.

"Apparently, Majin Buu is full from all that choco just now," Babidi sneered. "And so, we go on to the next city. Let's see, which way should we go this time?"

Just as Babidi and Majin Buu were about to take off again-

"Babidi! Majin Buu!" shouted a voice.

Both the Madoshi and the Majin immediately stopped.

"You hear me!" Koji shouted. "This is Koji!"

"And this is Goten!"

"Well, well," Babidi said, delighted. "At last, contact from the people themselves."

"Listen! Right now, it's impossible," Koji told them, "but very soon, we are going to absolutely slaughter you!"

"Absolutely!" Goten added.

"You idiots!" Amara scolded. "Stop that right now!"

"He'll find out about this place!" Piccolo said.

After bieng told that, both Goten and Koji quickly cut their link off with the warlock.

"Hey, where are you?" Babidi demanded. "Where did you go? Come out here! Are you hiding, you cowards!"

Back at the Lookout, Goku was smiling knowingly at the two boys.

"Now, let's do this Fusion training properly!" he said.

Both Koji and Goten nodded resolutely. While they both still had their doubts about Goku's strength, if this Fusion training worked, then that was all that really mattered to them.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	40. The New Target: West Capitol!

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything in the DBZ universe. Except for all original characters in this story.**

**Chapter Forty: The New Target: West Capitol!**

* * *

The day progressed by lazily on the holy sphere of the Kaioushin Realm; even the clouds appeared languorous, drifting slowly across the planet's lavender sky. Centuries ago, back when the times had been simple and peaceful, back when five Kaioushin inhabited this divine world, days like this were used for frolicking around or even reading a good book. Those had truly been the good, old days.

Then the evil Madoshi Bibidi and Majin Buu appeared.

Ever since that dreadful incident, days like this were now used for anything but playing around and reading mere books. Today was definitely no different. Even now, a sense of grave urgency hung in the air, accenting the danger that presently loomed over the entire Lower Realm.

Atop of a tall, flat-surfaced rock that sat in the center of a lake, Kaioushin and Kibito (who was uncharacteristically wearing a smug smile on his face) stood, watching on mutely as Gohan was mutely preparing himself for the daunting task of pulling out the fabled Z-Sword. Knowing that Kibito was counting on him to fail, Gohan tried to hide the fact that was actually a bit worried he wouldn't be able to remove the sword. After all, not even a Kaioushin could remove it, but he knew now wasn't the time to let concerns or inhibitions block him from using his true potential with his loved ones still in danger back on Earth. From what he was told, if he could pull out the sword then he would gain unimaginable strength, maybe even enough to defeat Majin Buu. If everything goes right, then he would be able to protect everyone for sure.

"Well, here goes nothing," he murmured.

Taking one last deep, readying breath, he finally grasped the sword handle and began. Gohan let out a cry as he wrenched with all his mighty strength; minutes later and the sword still hadn't bulged a bit. From the sidelines, Kibito tried so hard to contain his amusement as he mockingly watched Gohan struggle. He was trying so hard that a large vein bulged furiously on his forehead, looking as if it would pop at any minute.

"Augh! You stupid...damn...sword...come out!" Gohan growled, beginning to grow annoyed.

Kibito was nearly in tears, as he still tried to control himself. Noticing the expression on his attendant's face, Kaioushin shook his head in embarrassment. It didn't improve things when the half-Saiyajin grip suddenly lost his grip and fell backwards atop of his head, sending a tremor through the rock.

"Gohan-san, are you okay?" Kaioushin asked, running over to check on the half-Saiyajin teenager. The palm of Gohan's hands were very red, as if they'd been burnt by something extremely hot.

Not being able to contain himself anymore, Kibito burst into a fit of jeering laughter. Kaioushin and Gohan surveyed him from afar, both sweatdropping slightly.

"You must forgive Kibito for...acting like a child," Kaioushin told Gohan, sounding a bit annoyed as he glared his guffawing aide. "Kibito normally would never act in such a manner."

Gohan scrambled back up to his feet, shook his throbbing hands, and walked back over to the sword.

"Okay, Gohan, you can do this..." he told himself, closing his eyes for a moment. In the next instant, Gohan let out a cry, the blackness of his hair bursting into a light yellow hue, and his charcoal eyes fading away into a brilliant, pupiless teal, sparks of electricity shining through his aura.

"Super Saiyajin, huh?" Kibito asked. "Not even that will change the results."

Gohan completely dismissed Kibito. Taking another deep breath, he gave it another try.

Even though Kibito wasn't laughing at him aloud anymore, Kaioushin's aide still thought that the half-Saiyajin was wasting his time. How could a human from the Lower Realm succeed where so many Kaioushin-sama have failed?

Gohan's screams intensified as he dug deep within himself, desperately searching for that inner strength-that sleeping power of his that he had always tried to suppress in fear of hurting everyone he cared for. The same power that helped defeat Cell. And then, almost as if it had been on the surface this whole time, that very same power exploded from Son Gohan. The half-Saiyajin teenager gritted his teeth as he heaved and heaved at the sword handle.

The whole mountain started to shake violently from the stress Gohan was placing on it. Kaioushin and Kibito could barely keep their balance now, as they continued to observe Gohan. And then, just when the two had thought they'd already seen the impossible before in their lengthy lifespan...the sword handle actually started to budge.

Kaioushin beamed hugely.

Kibito gasped and goggled. "Whuh...wha! Masakaaaa!"

Inch by incredible inch, the blade started to slide out of the rock, sending cracks through the surface as it did. With a final yell and a final heave, Gohan accomplished something that not even a deity could- he had at last pulled out the mythical Z-Sword!

Kaioushin smiled delightedly at Gohan. Beside him, the slack-jawed, wide-eyed Kibito was drowing in the shocking realization that the sword that not even any of the Kaioushin-sama could even remove was done so by a human.

A short while later, the three were standing on solid earth again. Kaioushin and Kibito stood on either side of Gohan, who was still taking in the sight of his new weapon. For a brief moment, Gohan forgot that the two were even there with him as he held up the legendary sword, his turquoise eyes drinking in its beauty. It was a magnificent weapon, indeed. Attached to the gold handle was an impressively carved blade, its sharp edge gleaming almost menacingly in the sunlight.

"Congratulations, Gohan-san," Kaioushin praised. "The Z-Sword is all yours now!"

Consequently, Gohan regressed back to his base form. Then gravity yanked down hard and fast on the Z-Sword, as the weight of it suddenly increased drastically, much to the teenager's dismay. But just before the sword could touch the ground, through gritted teeth, Gohan managed to get a good grip on the handle to stop its descent and then pulled it back up, swaying on his feet as he did so, but he didn't fall. When it looked like he had gotten some kind of control over the sword, Gohan looked over at Kaioushin and Kibito, noticing the huge sweatdrop on the side of their heads.

Gohan smiled sheepishly. "Wow, this thing's heavier than it looks."

* * *

With the imminent danger they were facing, no time was wasted in starting the Fusion training. Even now, behind the palace of God, Juuhachi-gou and Amara were seated cross-legged across from one another under the watchful eye of the Guardian of Cosmos, as she prepared them in learning to unite their minds as one; on Juuhachi-gou's left hand, she wore the gold Galactic Ring, while Amara wore the purple one on her right hand. Unfortunately, the going was slow as the two rivals were unsurprisingly having a hard time with this, and the looks of annoyance on both their faces were clearly seen. Watching the pair, Kosumo sighed to herself, she knew from the beginning that this was going to take a lot of work, and she hated she was right. A short distance away, Juunana-gou quietly watched with an expression of part-amusement, part-interest, and part-curiosity.

Meanwhile, in a room inside the heart of the palace, Goku was preparing his son and Koji for his style of Fusion, with Piccolo looking on nearby. The first order of business was for the young boys to transform and power-up to full blast.

Everyone discovered that Koji and Goten were much more powerful than they were able to show at the tournament- phenomenally powerful. Their power was felt by everybody on the Lookout, especially when the whole tower started to shake. Standing in the room with the two half-Saiyajin, Goku and Piccolo felt the full brunt of it. A snarling Piccolo was pushed backwards a few feet while trying to shield his eyes with one arm, but Goku, who didn't budge once, watched it all calmly. Out in the hall with Dende and Mr. Popo, Kuririn and Hoshi observed as well, with the former staring in sheer amazement while the latter looked as if this was nothing knew to her at all.

Sensing them too, both Amara and Juuhachi-gou were unable to concentrate, and soon they had completely stopped to stare in the direction they could feel the boys in, looks of astonishment on their faces. Kosumo couldn't fault neither woman, as even she looked amazed by the tremendous power she felt radiating from the sons of Prince Vegeta and Son Goku.

_*Incredible,* _she mused. _*Yes, there's no mistaken it. A union between those two will produce a very formidable union.*_

Sitting beside her on her right, Amara was looking half-astounded, half-irritated. _*Damn it all! I knew those whelps were strong, but not THIS strong!*_

Across from the Saiyajin no Oujo, Juuhachi-gou couldn't get over how strong the boys were as well. Particularly her son, of course. She still couldn't get over how powerful he's gotten in such a short amount of time. It brought a tiny proud smile to her lips. She knew his father would've been proud as well- no, even prouder. Even if he wouldn't act like he was. As she looked out the corner of her eye, she saw the look of amazement on her brother's face, too.

"_Sugoi_! Those little tykes are incredible!" Yamucha commented.

"Well, look who their fathers are," Bulma said, holding their daughter.

_*When did these two become so powerful?* _Piccolo wondered to himself.

"Huh," Goku said to himself, suddenly noticing something notable about the boys. The size of Koji's aura was broader than Goten's. "Hey, you guys..."

"Nani?" the boys chorused quizzically.

"Listen, in order for this Fusion to work, your ki must match each other," Goku explained to them. "But Koji, you're stronger than Goten, so I want you to try and lower your power down to match Goten's."

"Um, okay," Koji replied, nodding. Concentrating, the young prince tried to curtail his ki to make it identical to his friend's; however, while he lowered his power, Koji ended up making it too much lower, which now made Goten's aura look slightly bigger than his own. Realizing this, he raised his power in attempt to match Goten's, only this time his aura was bigger again. Koji gritted his teeth in frustration. "It's kinda hard trying to get to Goten's level."

"I'm sorry," Goten apologized.

"Don't worry about, Goten, it's alright," his father assured him. "You can do this, and so can you, Koji. Okay, now I want you two to return back your base form and power-up to the top just like you did."

* * *

KAAABOOOOMMMMM!

Babidi laughed in sadistic delight, as he observed- from inside his Barrier- a couple skyscrapers go up in a pleasant bloom of fire and smoke; left behind in their places were thick, black, mushroom-shaped afterimages. He and Majin Buu had stumbled upon the misfortunate citizens of another city just a short while ago. Hoping that his enemies might be trying to hide from them in the city, the warlock had quickly ordered Buu to attack it in hopes that his enemies would come out of hiding- which was the reason why he'd erected his Barrier around himself. In his opinion, Majin Buu had the I.Q. of dirt, and Babidi feared that if he left himself unprotected while the monster attacked the city, he might get _accidentally _hit with a stray energy blast or fallen debris. Case in point, parts of a burning roof fell out of the sky and landed on his shield, rebounding off its hard surface.

Unfortunately for the warlock, he still couldn't find heads or tails of his enemies. Well, no matter, watching Majin Buu levelling the city to the ground made up for it. But he would find them. If it takes for him to get Majin Buu to destroy every civilization they come across on Earth, then so be it! Those five would be made to pay dearly for humiliating him the way they had done earlier. No one made him look like a fool and got to live afterwards.

"WAAHAAA!" Majin Buu brayed with childish sadistic laughter as he heedlessly propelled himself through a succession of tall, structured buildings, terribly frightening the people inside. When he'd reached the end, he did a neat hairpin turn and shot up to the very top level of another high edifice. Mindlessly, Majin Buu displayed his incredible strength by lifting the entire roof off the building and flung it towards the earth below, crushing some of the fleeing people. Majin Buu tossed his head back and laughed in enjoyment, with Babidi joining in.

_*Er, B-Babidi...Can you hear me?*_

The diminutive Madoshi composed himself immediately as soon as he heard the quivering voice inside his head.

"Yes, what is it?" Babidi answered, hoping that whoever it was had the information that he wanted. "And for your sake this had better not be a waste of a time."

_"I-I work at the Tenkaichi Tournament as an attendant, and those five people who you showed to us, had participated in the World Martial Arts Tournament just this morning. I know where they live!" _

Babidi's grin grew even wider and more crooked. "Go on, tell me!"

There was a short pause as the man who'd contacted Babidi flipped briskly through the list of all the fighters who'd signed up for the Budokai. A second later, he let out a happy noise when he finally found what he was looking for. In a terribly shaking voice, the Budokai attendant gave the warlock the info he wanted.

"Here it is. I can't help you with Amara and the green one, Ma Junior, but the participants, Juuhachi-gou and the little boy with red hair, Koji, live in West City with another participant: Vegeta. And the other young boy, Goten, lives in Mt. Paozu with-"

"This is wonderful!" Babidi cheered, closing the link between him and the attendant as he heard all he needed to hear. Turning to Majin Buu, who was celebrating another job well-done, Babidi smiled wickedly. "Guess what, Buu? We've finally made a breakthrough!"

_"People of Earth."_

At once, everyone on the Lookout stopped what they were doing and looked upward.

_"I just received significant information," _Babidi's voice boasted.

Equally uneasy by the announcement already, everyone closed their eyes. Right away, they saw a pleased Babidi hovering over a city, with Majin Buu doing silly poses in the background.

_"It seems that Juuhachi-gou and that urchin of hers, Koji, lives close by in West City. Perhaps we should go see them. You'd better come on out!" _Grinning horribly, Babidi could be seen crossing his arms. _"Otherwise, the city where you live will cease to exist! And I send those same words to Goten, as I am now aware he lives in Mt. Paozu. Once Buu and I are finished in Metro West, we'll be visiting you next!" _And the link cut off.

"Dammit!" Juuhachi-gou swore angrily as she rose up to her feet, her beautiful face twisted in a furious snarl. Her brother, Amara, and Kosumo all watched without comment.

In the room where they had been training with Goku, both Koji and Goten looked equally angry as well.

"Dammit!" Koji swore, his fists clenched.

"Who ratted us out?" Goten demanded.

By the doorway, where she stood with her father, Hoshi looked at her cousin and friend in utter sympathy.

"Koji-kun, Goten-kun..." she murmured.

Standing by Piccolo, Goku's expression was twisted in a grimace. To be honest, he was feeling just as upset as the kids where. While this was their fight, Mt. Paozu was his home, too! It was where he had lived with his adopted granfather, then later on with his wife and son. If not for the Dragonballs, then he might-before Goku could finish that line of thought, Juuhachi-gou abruptly came barging into the room, followed by Juunana-gou, Amara, and Kosumo.

"Ut-oh," Koji muttered when he saw the furious expression on his mother's face.

"You just heard, didn't you?" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking directly at Goku. "Babidi is taking Majin Buu to Metro West. What are you going to do about it?"

"I..." Goku started.

"That's right!" Bulma anxious voice preceded into the room, before she came running in. She drew up in front of Goku as well. "Son-kun, Papa and Mama are going to be killed!"

"Don't worry, we can just wish them back with the Dragonballs," Goku told her reassuringly.

"But it won't just be them, it'll be the whole city as well," Juuhachi-gou added.

"We can return that to normal too, with the second wish."

"No, we can't!" Piccolo contradicted. Everyone in the room immediately turned to him. "After using the first wish to bring a large number of people back to life, only one more wish will remain."

"Come to think of it, that's right," Goku realized, laughing sheepishly.

Both Bulma and Juuhachi-gou glared at him.

An idea came to Goku. "In that case, you could just tell Shenlong to," he said, kneeling and closing his eyes as he brought his hands to his chest prayerfully," 'Return everything back to the way it was' or something, couldn't you?" Standing up to his feet, he looked at everyone for approval of his idea. "Yeah, so how about that?"

Standing behind Juuhachi-gou and Bulma, Goten and Koji exchanged glances that clearly wondered if the dead warrior was serious.

"Idiot," Juuhachi-gou hissed. Beside her, Juunana-gou blinked at Goku with a sweatdrop hanging down the side of his head.

"That's Goku for you," Kuririn sighed, shaking his head. Beside him, Hoshi regarded the Saiyajin with matching mystified expressions.

"Somehow, I doubt it would be that convenient even with the Dragonballs," Amara remarked.

"She's right," Piccolo agreed.

Kosumo nodded in quiet consent.

"Son-kun you don't understand!" Bulma said. "If Metro West is destroyed, then the Dragon Radar will be lost as well! I left it back at home!"

Everyone in the room who was familiar with the Dragon Radar looked at Bulma in varying levels of dismay.

"That is a problem," Goku realized, folding his arms, his expression turning pensive.

"So what are we going to do about this?" Juuhachi-gou asked again.

"I can go get it!" Hoshi volunteered.

"What?" Kuririn bellowed, staring at his daughter as if she'd just gone completely crazy.

"Er, maybe I should go?" Koji suggested.

"No, I can do it," Hoshi insisted. "You get to do Fusion with Goten-kun, at least let me do something! Besides, you're on Babidi's most wanted list, remember?"

"Yeah. Right," Koji reminded, not wanting to be reminded of that at all.

"Listen here, young lady, you won't be doing no such thing!" Kuririn told her in a fatherly tone

Ignoring him, Hoshi looked pleadingly at Goku.

"Can I, uncle?" she asked. "I'm very fast."

Goku smiled down at her. "Well, I wouldn't really mind. But I think you should ask your parents first."

"Please Papa, please Mama! Can I go," the little half-Saiyajin implored to her father.

"Absolutely not, young lady!" Kuririn thundered, scowling down at her sternly. "I am not going to allow you to go out there, where you can run into those monsters and get killed! No, and that's final! Tell her she can't go, Amara."

Kuririn had looked for his wife to back him up, but she didn't. Though, she didn't exactly encourage the idea of her only daughter to go flying about while that horrible demon and that annoying little warlock were both on the loose down there. She remained quiet, her eyes roving over Hoshi critically as she considered this. Hoshi began to grow nervous as she found herself trapped under her mother's intense gaze, just like every time her mother looked at her that way. Since she'd been told of what her mother was and what herself was, she'd always strived to train very hard and become a very good warrior, wanting to be worthy in her mother's eyes. Her father had originally objected at her wanting to train and become a warrior, wanting her to lead the normal life that he never had gotten to. But as she'd surprisingly told him herself, she wasn't normal like he was. She wanted to be a fighter like her mother was; it was in her blood. At long last, Amara had reached n decision.

She nodded. "All right, you can go."

"Yosh'!" "Nande!" Hoshi and Kuririn blurted at the same time; the former in joy, and the latter in dismay.

"Amara! What the hell are you thinking? You can't just let her go-" Kuririn trailed off in his words, frozen in place by the cold glare his wife fixed him with.

"You worry too much" Amara retorted. "All she's going to do is fly down to Metro West and retrieve Dragon Radar. She'll be right back. It's not like she's going to go try to pick a fight with Majin Buu or anything. Isn't that right?" As she said the last part of her sentence, Amara then directed her daughter with a glare.

Hoshi swallowed as she became trapped in her mother's stern gaze. "Of course not!"

Seeing that he had no choice but to agree, Kuririn relented.

"Oh, all right," he said, throwing his arms up in resignation.

"I will! Thanks, Papa!" Hoshi said, delighted to be doing something.

"It's okay, Kuririn," Goku assured him. "While Hoshi-chan goes to Capsule Corp...I'll delay Majin Buu."

Everyone stared at him in various expressions.

"Goku..." Kuririn said, surprised after his long-time friend had outright admitted that he was no match for Majin Buu.

"W-will you be all right?" Hoshi inquired.

"Yeah, can you delay them, uncle?" Koji asked uncertainly. How could this man possibly do such a thing when not even his strong Papa could beat Majin Buu? "Won't you get beaten right away?"

Goku gave the boy a mysterious smile. "If it's for a little while, then I can manage something. Now, nevermind me. Hoshi, hurry, or they'll reach Metro West first!"

"Hoshi, if things gets too dangerous, come back right away, okay?" Kuririn asked.

Hoshi nodded obediently.

"Good luck, Hoshi-chan!" Koji and Goten chorused.

"Got it!" Following those words, Hoshi swiftly ran out of the room, with Kuririn following as far as to the door before he stopped. Moments later, she was speeding out of the palace, and just as she got halfway down the courtyard, she morphed to Super Saiyajin. In no time, she reached the edge of the tower and leaped off in a burst of energy, instantly righting herself and making a beeline towards Capsule Corporation...

Kuririn looked up when he felt a hand on a shoulder. Goku smiled down assuring at him.

"Hoshi will make it back okay," he told him.

Kuririn smiled and nodded. "Right. With you handling this, I know there's no need to worry."

Goku turned and stepped back inside the room. "Now then, let's see where those exactly are."

"Just a moment," Amara said, watching Goku suspiciously. "Kakarott, just what exactly did you mean just then by _you_ _could manage something_? Just a while ago, you said not even you could do anything with Buu."

Staring back at Amara, Goku laughed to himself. _*Of course the sister of Vegeta would remember that.* _

Aloud he said, "As I said, as long as this doesn't take up too much time, I should be able to hold them off. Don't worry." Goku then turned to Goten and Koji. "You two sit tight till I get back, okay?"

"Right!" Goten and Koji chimed.

"Good." For a moment, Goku placed a hand atop of Goten's head and rubbed his head affectionately. Then, he became all business, as he drew two fingers to his forehead, his brows knitting together in concentration as he searched for the kis of Babidi and Majin Buu. "There! I've found them!"

And then he teleported.

* * *

"Now see here! You're flying too fast!" Babidi screamed, after he had nearly fallen off for the umpteenth time. He knew the Majin couldn't help it, because like him he was also excited that they had finally found some of their enemies, and now their revenge could really begin. But still, that didn't mean he had to fly with disregard for the safety of his master!

The two villains had still had some distance to go before they reached West Capitol, when the two had suddenly stumbled upon another city. As soon as he saw it, Buu momentarily forgot all about the West Capitol. He smiled maddeningly and swooped down low towards the city. Thrusting out his hands, he decimated everyone and everything with Vegeta's stolen Renzoku Energy Dan. Within a few minutes, the Majin was back up in the air.

"Idiot! Don't get sidetracked, go to Metro West!" Babidi ordered.

With a grimace, Majin Buu obeyed and put on a extra burst of speed. But just moments after he did, a figure unexpectedly phased into existence before them. Madoshi Babidi hung onto Majin Buu's neck with a death grip, when Buu had to pull up short at the last second to avoid hitting the person.

"Ow, my neck," Babidi cried, as he came out from behind Buu. "Why did you stop so suddenly like that!"

Before his question could be answered, Babidi looked out and his expression immediately turned into astonishment when he saw a man in familiar orange and black gi clothes.

"Yo!" Goku said, smirking.

"You!" Babidi exclaimed. However, the warlock quickly got over his surprise, and grinned arrogantly. "So that's it. Here I thought you'd been killed by Vegeta and those two traitors, but you're still alive, huh? But this is perfect, because now I can thank you. As you can see, thanks to you, Majin Buu has returned!"

Goku regarded the demon earnestly.

"Both Vegeta and I looked too lightly upon you," Goku admitted. "How could we know that Majin Buu would be this awesome? We didn't think it could be possible."

Realizing Goku was talking about him, Majin Buu laughed, flattered. He then stood completely straight, arms akimbo, chest puffed with pride.

"Of course he is!" Babidi boasted. "My Papa made him, you know! So, what is it? Why have you come here?"

Goku said nothing, only frowned at the warlock. Babidi's expression lit up as a comprehension dawned on him.

"I know, you've come to tell me where those five are!"

"How stupid. The dark-haired, little boy is my son, after all. No, I just came to give you a warning."

"Huh? A warning, you say? To us?" Babidi asked, dumbfounded by such a thing. He snickered derisively. "How very amusing. It's so amusing, I think everyone on Earth should hear this."

"Listen here," Goku said slowly, very serious. "Those five are definitely going to show themselves in the near future. I promise. So just wait until then! Stop the unnecessary destruction and picking on the weak!"

"Why should we wait?" Babidi asked. "Are they planning something?"

"Yeah. They're in special training in order to defeat you."

For a moment, Babidi gawped at the Saiyajin. Then he exploded in mocking laughter, as did Majin Buu, both cackling as if they had just heard the greatest joke of all times.

"To defeat us, you say!" Babidi laughed. "Not even a thousand years worth of training would help them!"

Goku smirked. "Do you really think so?"

Babidi and Buu continued to laugh some more. This went on a little while longer, before Babidi finally got himself under control.

"Fool, you expect us to wait for that?" he scoffed. "They can come here right now! Otherwise, we keep killing Earthlings! After all, we've enjoyed spreading destruction and mayhem wherever we go!"

"Somehow, that's what I thought you'd say," Goku replied. He grinned. "Well then, you'll just have to let me oppose you for a little bit."

Babidi cackled some more. "How interesting! Majin Buu, show this guy just how terrifying you are! Apparently, he has the same death wish as Vegeta did!"

Majin Buu smiled...but he did nothing. Babidi looked at him questioningly.

"Is something wrong?" he inquired.

In response, Majin Buu covered his mouth with his large hands and started snickering quietly at some private joke. Drifting towards the bemused mage, the demon removed his hands and promptly burped in his face.

Babidi gawped, then scowled in outrage. "Why, you...What are you doing, Majin Buu? Go, kill that man!"

As Babidi pointed a finger in Goku's direction, Buu looked towards him. The action surprised Goku.

"That's it, show him your power!" Babidi urged. "Come on!"

"Okay, okay," Buu obeyed, scratching his head. In his opinion, this strange person that had appeared in front of them wasn't the only one there that needed to be killed. Still...Majin Buu shook his arms up and down rapidly, preparing himself for battle. He never noticed Babidi breathing a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong with you?" Goku abruptly questioned. "You're that strong, yet you allow yourself to be a slave to a guy like Babidi?"

"Hm?" Majin Buu said as he stilled at once, the Saiyajin's words striking a chord within him.

"Majin Buu!" Babidi shouted, faintly alarmed by the expression on the Majin's face. He glared at Goku in fury. "Shut up! Stop saying things like that! Majin Buu is my servant! Of course he listens to what I tell him to do!"

As soon as he said that, Majin Buu scowled down fiercely at Babidi. Hearing Buu growl in annoyance, Babidi stiffened in place. Slowly, he looked towards the Majin and was disturbed the look he was getting.

"H-hey! Don't be getting any ideas!" Babidi warned. "Do you want me to use the spell and seal you up again?"

Knowing how much Buu feared being sealed up again, Babidi expected him to beg for forgiveness as he usually did. However, he got quite the surprise.

"But if you seal me up, you're going to be killed by him!" Majin Buu responded with shocking wisdom.

Babidi looked absolutely taken aback by the words that had just came out of the pink demon's mouth. He started wonder if maybe Buu actually would try to turn on him. The tense moment between master and servant was broken, as Majin Buu suddenly started clapping.

"Don't worry, I'll kill him for you, anyway," he decided. "I hate him for acting so goody-goody."

Yet again, Babidi found himself breathing a sigh of assuagement.

Goku grimaced. "Damn, I guess we're gonna do this after all."

As soon as Goku clenched his fists and hunched over, Majin Buu instantly raised his hands in readiness. A wind started to whip around them, as Goku accumulated his ki.

Quickly, Babidi drifted away from the two to a safe distance. Then he turned to grin smugly at the all the Earthlings he knew were watching, waving a hand in Goku's direction.

"Watch very closely, Earthlings! We're about to show you what happens to any fool that tries to go against us!"

Back at the Lookout, everyone watched as Goku promptly powered-up all the way to Super Saiyajin Two. Both Goten and Koji opened their eyes in surprise.

"T-that's my father's ki?" Goten asked in disbelief.

"That's right," Piccolo answered, opening his eyes to look at Goten. "You're father really is an incredible guy!"

"Yeah, you haven't seen anything from Goku yet!" Kuririn agreed.

Goten smiled proudly, taking back every doubt he'd had about his father's strength.

_*N-no way...* _Koji thought in shock. _*That guy...that guy is as strong as Papa was! Awesome!" _

Standing beside her mate, Amara grimaced, very anxious to see just what the other Saiyajin had meant when he said he could manage something against Buu.

Down below, Hoshi paused in her flight to stare in amazement at the direction she sensed Goten's father from.

"Uncle's as great as Papa always told me!"

But Babidi wasn't impressed in the least bit.

"Useless! Useless!" Babidi declared. "Vegeta did that, and he still got killed!

Hovering before Goku, Majin Buu laughed in agreement as he remembered his fight with the Saiyajin Prince. Goku just grinned.

"Well, perhaps I should go once more above Super Saiyajin that's already gone beyond Super Saiyajin?"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	41. Goku's Incredible Distraction Tactic!

**Disclaimer: I have no property over Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, or the rest of the cast of the DB/Z world. I do own all original characters, however.**

**Chapter Forty-One: Goku's Incredible Distraction Tactic!**

* * *

"I see, this is gonna to be the toughest battle I've been in so far," Goku spoke in a low and dangerous tone. "There's no choice. I have to go once more above Super Saiyajin that's already gone beyond Super Saiyajin."

Even as he was preparing to face Majin Buu, he could still sense that Hoshi still hadn't made it to Capsule Corporation yet, meaning he'd have to buy her more time.

Goku studied his large, pink, foe with intensely. The more he gazed at Majin Buu, the more the fool he felt like for ever agreeing to fight Vegeta and allow the monster before him to be released. But what other choice had he had at the time? At first glance, just by looking at that childish expression on his face anyone would quickly get the impression that he wasn't all that tough- he had even thought that. Nevertheless, despite that it was too late, he definitely knew better now. He would never make the mistake of looking over Majin Buu again. Goku smirked precariously at Majin Buu, who continued to laugh at him.

"Go even beyond having gone beyond Super-whatever...?" Babidi tried repeating, but he failed. "What is all of this? What the hell are you saying? I don't understand at all. Majin Buu, hurry and put this guy away, and let's go to Metro West!"

Just as Majin Buu started to move, Goku abruptly powered down. Both Buu and Babidi stared at the warrior in matching confusion.

"Nande yo?" Babidi questioned as he couldn't believe Goku's audacity of thinking he could stand a ghost of a chance against Majin Buu without turning into that glowing, golden warrior.

"Are you giving up?" Buu asked, confused.

"No, not at all," Goku reassured him. "I'm just gonna explain to you about Super Saiyajin so that you can easily understand."

"Super...Saiyajin?" Majin Buu repeatedly, utterly confused.

"Don't waste your breath," Babidi told him. "We don't want to know THAT badly."

"Aw, don't say that," Goku replied with a mock pout. "Are you paying attention? First, this is my normal state." Goku then transformed with great ease. "This is me as a Super Saiyajin. And then..." Goku transformed again, his hair becoming spikier and darker, blue bolts of energy flowing through his aura. "This is a Super Saiyajin that's gone even beyond Super Saiyajin, or Super Saiyajin Two for short."

Majin Buu nodded twice, following the impromptu lecture perfectly so far.

"Heh! That's what you want to show us? A bunch of insignificant transformations?" Babidi sneered. "No great change between them, is there?"

Goku grinned dangerously. "And now...

His aura then burst silver and expanded. Babidi and Majin Buu gazed skyward as saw the gathering of the dark clouds and the small crackles of lightning above; a storm was brewing. One that never did until a new and amazing power was about to be born into the world.

The two turned back to Goku, who was now encompassed by a sphere of golden light.

"This is...going even further beyond Super Saiyajin!" And then Goku screamed, his body becoming the center of a titanic explosion of energy...

* * *

Everywhere, Goku's amazing transformation was witnessed.

"That man...he's truly incredible," Kosumo murmured, as she and everyone else on the Lookout witnessed Goku's transformation with their closed eyes.

Amara couldn't believe she was watching! Never before had she seen such a low-class solider produce so much energy, she mutely agreed with Kosumo, Kakarott was implausible. Now she understood her late brother's problem with him.

Abreast to his aghast sister, Juunana-gou watched the man he'd been designed to kill in stunned astonishment. Though he couldn't sense ki exactly like his sister or the other fighters at the Tenka did, his sensors was still sophisticated enough to tell him that Goku's power had jumped several leaps and bounds- to a degree he could never reach. Seven years back, when he, Juuhachi-gou, and Juuroku-gou had been searching for the Saiyajin, he hadn't really thought much of Goku being a challenge to him. Before Cell had come, he'd thought he'd been Gero's ultimate creation, with his sister behind him in that category, and that no one could match him in power. Though he would always think that the Jinzouningen were superior to all other races, he was beginning to respect the Saiyajin very much now.

* * *

Hoshi halted in mid-air again, turning around in the direction she came from as she sensed Goku's ki skyrocket to levels her young mind never knew existed. The young Saiyajin princess closed her eyes and their Goku was, hovering above the ocean like a man-made atomic bomb, the vertical force of his aura tossed around the sailboats that were out in the choppy water below him.

"A-awesome!" she stammered, wide-eyed. Then she shook her head. "No, no! I can't do this, I have to go get the Radar!"

Remembering her job, Hoshi continued on her way toward Capsule Corporation.

* * *

"Nani ka?" Super Saiyajin Gohan caught his breath when he felt his father's ki, staring into the distance with a expression of disbelief as he held the Z-Sword. "T-that can't be Father's ki!"

"Y-you're wrong!" Kaioushin disagreed with strong certainty, shocked. "That extraordinary energy you're feeling really is Son Goku!"

Gohan gasped.

"M-most unbelievable!" Kibito said, just as stunned. "To think that such a power all the way from Earth could reach this sacred region...!"

"Father...What in the world has happened to you?" Gohan wondered, eyes wide.

* * *

Goku's power was so great, not only could it be felt on a faraway planet such as in the Kaioushin Realm. It could also be felt all the way in the afterlife.

In Heaven, on his planet, Kaiou of the North berated Goku for going back on his promise. Especially considering his time on Earth was limited, and he still hadn't taught the kids Fusion yet.

In Hell, Vegeta had been perched on a boulder beside a lake of crimson water, minding his own business, when he felt it. His perpetually scowling face had melted into bewilderment upon discovering that he could feel Kakarott's power all the way from another dimension. But it wasn't the same as last time when they had battled before his second death. It was very powerful than before, much more than his. As if sensing his desire to see what Kakarott was doing on Earth, another magical window materialized before him. And what Vegeta saw through that window, dealt a blow heavier than any other made to his pride.

* * *

Everyone down in the coastal city were all thunderstruck as they gawped up with their eyes still closed at the new fighter with the radiant aura around him, who seemed quite different from the other combatant that had stood before the creature that attacked their city. Though he wore the same clothes like the last man, he didn't quite look the same. He was much bulkier than the other man, his face was also much more harsh-looking and raw-boned. The fighter's hair was long, blonde, coarse mane that went right passed his waist to the back of his knees, and he had no eyebrows.

They all wondered who and what he was?

Babidi at a moment was more than a little intimidated by Goku's transformation. He'd never seen something so bizarre. Meanwhile, Majin Buu blinked at his new foe in a stupor.

"And this...this is Super Saiyajin Three," Goku finished, speaking for the first time since his metamorphsis. His voice was lower and more powerfully intense than normal. "Sorry it took me so long. I'm still not used to this form just yet."

Majin Buu suddenly laughed.

"Your face might be scary now, but I'm not scared at all!" he stated, pointing a finger at the newly transformed warrior.

Hearing that from his servant, Babidi's confidence returned full-force, half-sneering and half-grinning at Goku. If Majin Buu didn't think this guy was anything to worry over even now, then Babidi knew there was nothing to worry about.

"That's right! So what about this Super-whatever Three?" Babidi mocked. "It'll take a lot more than looking tough to stop us! Majin Buu, take him down, right away!"

"I agree. Let's get started," Goku said.

"Through me, everyone on Earth is watching this!" Babidi stated, while Majin Buu geared up beside him. "Buu, put him to shame! Get him!"

With a nod, Majin Buu looked as if he was about to lunge, but before he could Goku had crossed the distance between them in a heartbeat. The demon only had a second to look surprised, then Goku rammed his knee into his face. The Super Saiyajin Three wasted no time, catching up to Buu, he proceeded to deliver blow after blow to him, driving dents into places of Majin Buu's body he probably didn't even know he had.

Babidi watched it all in complete dismay, his eyes tripling their normal size. This just couldn't be! This man couldn't possibly have the power to defeat Majin Buu, his Papa's incredible creation!

"Majin Buu!" the warlock squawked in consternatedly. "Don't just stand there and let him beat on you! Get him!"

Unfortunately for him, his words of encouragement did his monster no good. High-pitched squeals were extracted from Majin Buu, as Goku's fists and feet viciously lashed out at him; every blow sent him rocking backwards, Goku wasn't going to make any mistake by letting Buu regain his composure. With one final strike, Goku clipped Majin Buu in the face and the demon plummeted out of the sky, smashing hard into a building down below on the city.

That made the spectators open their eyes again, and they instantly scattered as the building came crumbling down on Buu, sending dust and debris flying all over the place.

* * *

"Awesome! Go, Goku!" Kuririn cheered.

"Wow, Son Goku really is an incredibly guy, isn't he?" Juunana-gou remarked. Beside him, Juuhachi-gou nodded in agreement.

"Yosh', Otousan!" Goten cheered.

"Get him, Uncle!" Koji encouraged. He had long since gotten over the shock that Goten's dad was stronger his own, and was now cheering Goku own, taking back everything he said about him.

"We shouldn't get too overconfident," Piccolo suddenly said.

"What do you mean?" Kuririn asked. "Goku is completely overwhelming Buu."

"That's right," Goten agreed.

"Don't get me wrong. Goku has become very incredible," Piccolo said, "but Majin Buu is not to be underestimated."

"Is this Majin Buu really that terrible?" Bulma asked.

"Yeah," Piccolo answered, nodding.

"I don't get it!" Amara said, agitated. "If he was able to transform into a Super Saiyajin Three before, then why did he hide this from us? Why didn't he show it when he was facing Vegeta?"

The more she watched Goku in his Super Saiyajin Three, the more she started to grow more and more resentful towards the younger Saiyajin...but at the same time, that same admiration she had for the man who defeated Furiiza and his family was still there.

"Because...of the consequence that comes with using this transformation," Kosumo said knowingly, drawing the eyes of everyone on her.

"What do you mean?" Piccolo questioned.

Without opening her eyes, she answered, "This power Goku-san is using...It's not meant for someone like him to use in this earthly dimension. Because he is dead, the more energy he uses up, the less time he has on this world before he has to return back to the afterlife."

For a moment, everyone stared at her in dismay. But then they closed their eyes and went back to observing the fight.

* * *

Warily, people gathered around the gaping hole in the street where they had witnessed Majin Buu get roughly deposited at.

"Is he dead?"

"Could that guy really have gotten him?"

In the next moment, the questions of the two bystanders were answered as Majin Buu exploded out of the ground, rocketing back into the air.

"This is great!" Babidi cheered, watching the Majin come to a stop a short distance away from Goku.

Goku frowned when Majin Buu grinned up at him. _*Sheesh. Hardly any damage at all?*_

Majin Buu abruptly went back on the offensive, unleashing a hail of ki blasts. Surprisingly, though, this attack was actually very familiar to Saiyajin, as he'd seen one other person do that technique.

"Renzoku Energy Dan...that's Vegeta's move!" he gasped, while batting away each beam that came his way. All of a sudden, Majin Buu appeared across from him, and Goku immediately turned to face him. _*You lousy rat...It appears you can even copy all of an opponent's techniques just by fighting with them a little bit.*_

"Majin Buu, what's wrong?" Babidi called down. "Hurry up and finish that guy!"

Majin Buu smiled slyly as he balled up his fist. Goku stood in ready posture, but he wasn't prepared as he thought he was for what happened next. Majin Buu brought his fist forward, but instead of charging, he elongated his arm across the distance between them. Goku was so stunned by the move that he couldn't dodge in time, and Buu clouted him hard in the jaw. The Saiyajin rocked back and lowered his head; Majin Buu placed his fists on his hips and bellowed triumphant laughter.

However his laughter was cut short when Goku lifted his head and smiled, telling Buu wordlessly that his blow had no affect on him. Majin Buu stared back in surprised, not used to people reacting that way whenever he hit someone. Then he smiled and launched himself at the Saiyajin again.

Babidi quickly retreated to a safer distance when Majin Buu and Goku's fight moved dangerously close to him. Gliding backwards, Buu fired a pink ki bolt at Goku, which was effortlessly belted away. As the two forms jockeyed for position, blows and blocks falling faster than most could see, a light of hope burned brightly within all the Earthlings. Could this mysterious man, who was giving the supposedly invincible Majin Buu such a good fight, actually win?

The two super warriors broke apart both smiling. They had been battling for quite a while now, and none of them seemed to be tiring. Both hadn't seemed to be at end of their respective resources, in fact this brawl was just getting started.

"Hey, for a goody-goody, you're pretty strong," Majin Buu commended. He couldn't remember the last time he had such fun in a fight as the one he was in now.

"The same for you," Goku responded, genuine admiration painting his voice.

"Majin Buu! What's taking so long?" Babidi shouted down in impatience, unaware of the grimace that appeared on the demon's face at the sound of his voice. "Hurry up and beat that guy!"

All the while, the sorcerer was oblivious to death glare he was getting from Majin Buu from out of the corner of his eye. However, Goku saw it and that's when he knew it was only a matter of time before Buu finally wised up and realized that he didn't have to be Babidi's servant.

* * *

Hoshi beamed when the top of golden dome of Capsule Corporation came into view. In a matter of moments, she arrived and touched down in front of the entrance, rushing inside. A search for the ki of Bulma's parents led Hoshi to the playroom where the animals they had all collected as pets over the years resided.

"Oh, look, little Hoshi has come to visit us," Dr. Briefs said cheerfully as Hoshi stepped inside the room, Tama perched on his shoulder as always while a baby saurian sat beside him.

"Hello, Hoshi-chan, you arrived just in time for tea," Mrs. Briefs told her, holding a tray in her hands.

"Sorry, but there's no time for that," Hoshi said pressingly. "I've come for the Dragon Radar. We really need it!"

* * *

Goku backed away, and interlaced, and ducked, and eluded the hands and feet that were blurring in at him in a furious succession of strikes. Even at his level of power, the Saiyajin could barely keep ahead of them as Majin Buu was starting to get a whole lot faster.

"_This guy...is awesome,"_ Goku realized, while trying to find some opening in Buu's defenses. After a minute or so he did and surged right under a punch and uppercutted Buu in the chin.

Babidi let out a wail of despair as he watched Goku propelling his fist into Buu's face, pressing a dent into it. Majin Buu went rocking backward. Wasting no time Goku shot in low to keep the advantage he had over Majin Buu and rammed his foot into the beast's belly, forcing him to double over. Goku smiled faintly, and then gasped when Majin Buu raised his head, he didn't see to be in any real pain. Majin Buu's body began to expand around the Super Saiyajin Three and constricted tightly, trying to crush the life out of his opponent.

Everyone who was watching sucked in his or her breath when they saw Goku getting swallowed by Majin Buu's chubbiness.

"Nice going, Majin Buu! Nice going!" Babidi cackled with a wicked merriness.

Majin Buu glanced down and his eyes opened wide when he saw light and electricity started to pour out of the hole the Saiyajin could barely be seen and then-Babidi screamed and jumped out of the way when a burst of golden light exploded from Buu's stomach, and after the light disappeared Goku stood where he was right before he was guzzled down by Majin Buu's stomach. His hairless brows were snapped down in a feral anger, yet he was grinning at the same time.

"Majin Buu!" Babidi shrieked as he watched Buu float away like some inflated balloon. "This can't be happening, this just can't be happening..." he started to say himself, but saw he had nothing to worry about when Majin Buu stopped drifting away and placed his flat thumb into his mouth and blew, returning back to his normal size. A wave of relief instantly washed over Babidi.

Goku flew back in at Majin Buu and slammed his knee into his face again, leaving another print, Goku grabbed Majin Buu by the forelock and swung him around and around and ultimately flung him down towards the city. However, before Majin Buu could crash he caught himself and banked into a neat hairpin turn and flew right back at the Saiyajin, sending rapid streams of ki charges up ahead of him. Goku eluded them and threw a bolt of his own, only to have Buu catch it and crush it.

_*C'mon Hoshi hurry_!* Goku mused, sensing that his best friend's daughter still hadn't left Capsule Corporation yet. Turning his mind back to the fight, Goku looked pensively at the inhabitants of the city underneath him and Buu. *_We need to get away before they get hurt_,* he thought and winked out sight, causing Buu to hit empty air. Buu looked ahead and saw Goku and immediately soared towards him and hit emptiness again. Steam whistled out of the holes atop of his head as he was getting a little annoyed.

And just when Majin Buu was about to charge, Goku moved at a speed that defeated Majin Buu's senses and punched him again. As Majin Buu was sailing backwards, his arms extended out and gripped Goku's shoulders, the Saiyajin's luminous, bright-green eyes widen for a moment and Buu brought head forward, right into Goku's face and went battering in the other direction.

Goku quickly shook off the wooziness in time and crushed his elbow into Buu's sternum and unleashed another barrage of punches on the beast until Buu flung a red ki-bolt at him. Goku let out a cry and the blast was counterbalanced by his Super Saiyajin aura.

"Here I go again!" Buu shouted, drifting rearward, his arm stretched out again and he swung, but Goku ducked and then the left arm lashed out at him and Goku leapt into the air indistinctively. Coming back down feet-first to drill Majin Buu in the face, leaving foot impression in his. And as Buu was falling, Goku shifted his body to the side and cupped his hands together.

"Kamehame...HAAAAAA!" The blue-white ki beam careened out and struck Majin Buu right in the stomach, leaving large gaping hole.

"Oh, no, Majin Buu!" Babidi lamented alarmingly. But his frown quickly shifted back into a sadistic grin when Majin Buu regenerated. "Ha! Long live Majin Buu!"

Goku instantly got on guard as Majin Buu moved into position in front of him. Then, strangely, Majin Buu turned to the side and brought his hands together. Shock registered across Goku's face, as he realized immediately what the demon was trying to do now.

"No way! Not the Kamehameha Wave!" he said in dismay.

Then Majin Buu fired, a huge pink blast surging through the air towards the Saiyajin. Clasping his hands together, Goku swung and reflected the beam right back to Buu. However, the Majin brought his hands together and knocked the blast off to the side...right where Babidi happen to be hovering. Quickly, the warlock scrambled out of the way, and the Kamehame-Ha went sailing a long distance before it landing, a tremendous detonation going off afterwards. The aftermath of it shook the entire planet for a few long moments.

Regaining his composure, Babidi glared angrily over at Buu.

"B-be more careful!" he admonished. "I was almost put in danger, you know! You imbecile!"

Majin Buu glared at Babidi momentarily before turning his gaze back onto Goku.

Babidi chuckled. "Even so, that just now destroyed about one-tenth of the Earth, didn't it? Some Friend to Justice you are! Nyah!"

Goku ignored him, his attention riveted on his fierce opponent.

"Buu! You're better than I expected!" Goku praised. "I'm surprised! You don't have the face of someone who knows much, but you've got a real gift for battle! To think that you could read through your opponent's techniques and make them your own."

"Thank you!" Majin Buu replied, taking a haughty pose.

Goku's eyes widened as a familiar ki brushed across his senses, heading somewhere faraway. He smirked.

_*All right, she's got it,* _he thought, smiling. His eyes shifted back to Buu and Babidi. _*Now my role comes to an end.*_

So saying, Goku's ki momentarily blazed before he slipped back into Super Saiyajin Two, then down to Super Saiyajin, and finally back to his normal state. Both Majin Buu and Babidi stared in surprise and confusion.

"Hey, why'd you go back to normal?" Majin Buu demanded. "It's fun fighting you! Let's do some more!"

"That's quite an honor," Goku said genuinely. "But I ain't got any more time. I can't play with just you forever. Sorry, but I have to get back."

Babidi cackled. "Fool! You actually think you can escape now! Majin Buu! Make an example of him! Kill this guy! After you kill him, we'll go immediately to Metro West and destroy everything there! We'll kill everyone! By doing so, those five that opposed us are sure to come forward!"

"Listen up, Babidi!" Goku told him, sweat covering his scowling face. "The five you're looking for-Piccolo, Juuhachi-gou, Koji, Goten and Amara-are guaranteed to appear in three-no, two days! So until then, don't do anything, just wait! Stop killing people for no reason! Two days. Just two days! That's okay, ain't it?"

Majin Buu considered. "Are those guys strong?"

"Of course they are!" Goku promised.

That delighted the demon. However, the same couldn't be said for Babidi as he drew in front of Buu, glaring at Goku.

"You honestly think I would do that?" he sneered. "We'll kill even more now, you know!"

Instead of being fazed by that, Goku smiled.

"Gee, that's too bad," he said. "It sounds like it would be a rare, fun battle for Majin Buu. Hey, Babidi! I'm going to ask Enma Diao to see to it that once you get to Hell, you get squeezed plenty hard!"

"Up yours!" Babidi retorted, shooting him the middle finger.

"So then, see you later," Goku said, already starting to teleport. Unsure of what he was about to do, Babidi hastily retreated behind Buu, but by the time he did Goku was completely gone.

The confused warlock and demon looked this way and that, and couldn't find him anywhere.

"H-he vanished!" Babidi gasped, stunned. "W-what was that all about? That guy, why the hell did he come here?" Then the full weight of the realization that their quarry escaped sunk in. Babidi fumed. "Hey, Majin Buu! You let him get away, didn't you! It's your fault for dilly-dallying around! You dimwit! He's got to still be around here somewhere! Hurry and find him! Hurry!"

Buu didn't move.

"Hey! Didn't you hear me?" Babidi barked indignantly. "You dolt! Get going now! Tubby!"

If Babidi could see the murderous expression on the face of his servant, he wouldn't be insulting him right now. It was in that moment that Majin Buu had reached a decision on a matter that had been at the back of his mind for while now...

"Babidi-sama?" Majin Buu asked, as he turned to face him, smiling that childish smile of his.

"W-what is it?" Babidi asked, sounding wary.

"I have a good idea," the Majin offered.

"What! A good idea?" Babidi repeated in disbelief. "An idiot like you? I doubt it's anything too great, but go ahead and tell me!"

Given permission, Buu drifted through the space between them, drawing up in front of the evil mage. Buu placed his right hand beside his mouth, like someone about to tell a secret as he spoke.

"You know what, Babidi-sama?"

"What? Hurry up!" Babidi said impatiently, looking away. "Tell me quick, and then go after that guy!"

Majin Buu's face twisted into a malicious grin. Babidi was completely caught off guard. The demon reached out and caught him by the throat, squeezing hard, but not too hard. As he was raised higher into the air, Babidi struggled futilely to get free, gasping desperately for air, only for it to be just that...futile.

"You can't talk, right?" Majin Buu asked. "That means you can't say the spell to seal me up again! I've taken a lot from you. Now I don't have any more to do with you! I won't stand any more!"

Babidi increased his struggles to get free, knowing his death was upon him.

Majin Buu's childly expression contorted into a mask of pure evil.

"Die! You fool!"

On that note, the last thing Babidi saw before his life really ended this time, was his own blood splattering across his vision.

* * *

Outside of God's Palace, almost everyone there were standing outside on the courtyard now, waiting for both the returns of Goku and Hoshi with the Dragon Radar. Still left in a state of amazement from what they just witnessed. From Goku's astonishing transformation into Super Saiyajin Three, to the even more astonishing battle between the dead Saiyajin and the childly Majin.

Suddenly, Goku appeared on the courtyard a short distance away in a flicker-flash.

"Otousan!"-"Uncle!" Goten and Koji exclaimed, noticing him first.

"Son!"

"Kakarott!"

Goten broke out into a smile and rushed over to hug his father enthusiastically.

"Father, you were awesome!" Goten enthused, as Goku rubbed his head affectionately.

"Yeah, Super Saiyajin Three was sooooo cool!" Koji said, coming over. "Would you show it to us? Please?"

"Right, show it to us, Father," Goten pleaded.

Despite himself, Goku chuckled their half-Saiyajin boys' enthusiasm in amusement.

"Son, how are you feeling?" Piccolo asked, as he and the others approached.

"I know transforming into that state must've taken a lot of you," Kosumo said.

"I'm fine," Goku assured them, but underneath his smile, he wasn't fine at all.

Both his transformation (and mainly so) and the fight against Majin Buu himself had really taken a lot out of him. Though it was something that he knew would happen if he had been forced to transform to Super Saiyajin Three while back in this earthly dimension, however, he had hoped that it wouldn't have to come to it. Not even Vegeta had pushed him against a wall like Majin Buu had. Then again, Majin Buu was a different animal entirely.

_*And because I transformed, I just shortened my time here on Earth,* _he thought grimly. _*I have to move quickly and teach the boys the Fusion Dance before time really does run out for me.*_

While those with the untrained eye were fool, Juuhachi-gou, Juunana-gou, Kosumo, Piccolo, and Amara could easily see the heavy fatigue on the Saiyajin's face.

"Hoshi should be back here pretty soon with the Dragon Radar," Kuririn said. "But we're all right for the moment, huh Goku?"

"For the moment," Goku repeated seriously. "Even if Metro West is destroyed, as long as we have the Dragon Radar, we can turn things back into the way it was. Even the dead people."

As soon as he said those words, Kosumo's eyes widened in sudden shock, then narrowed.

"Just now...someone else just added to the death count," she said gravely.

"Who?" Piccolo wanted to know.

Goku frowned, as he felt it as well. "So, Buu has gone and done it, after all. I had a feeling he would do it soon. He's really killed Babidi!"

"What?" Amara and Kuririn exclaimed together in shock.

Juuhachi-gou gasped, eyes widening.

"N-now that you mention it, I did just feel Babidi's ki vanish," Piccolo admitted, not at all sounding pleased about that as he would be under other circumstances. "S-so that means that there's no one left to order Buu around."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Juunana-gou asked.

"Yeah, without Babidi ordering him around, Majin Buu might kill anymore!" Yamucha said hopefully. Beside him, held by her mother, Bra giggled as Puar played with her.

"That means the Earth will return to peace, right!" Bulma asked hopefully.

Piccolo looked as if he was about to say something, but-

"No, it won't!" Kosumo blurted, drawing looks of surprise on her.

"Kosumo-sama..." Piccolo said.

Kosumo gave both Bulma and Yamucha a very serious look. "Majin Buu will not stop killing just because Babidi is gone- in fact, he will kill even more now! That monster thrives off killing and causing destruction; it's all one big game to him."

"I wonder..." Goku said, regarding the Guardian of Cosmos, then he thought back to his conversation with the Majin after their fight, and how delighted he had seemed at the prospect of facing strong opponents...

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	42. One Mind

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but my own original characters. **

**Chapter Forty-Two: One Mind**

* * *

Free.

He was finally free.

That realization dawned on Majin Buu as he blasted the headless body of his former would-be master into nonbeing. Since as far back as Buu could remember, there had always been someone in his life trying to order him around. First his creator, the Madoshi Bibidi, and then his only son, the Madoshi Babidi. But now there was no one who could tell him what to do; no one who could threaten him to follow their orders by sealing him up again. He was free! Free to have all the fun he wanted, when he wanted it, and how he wanted it.

Joy swelled up inside the demon, making him shake all over; Buu grabbed his arms as if in some attempt to regain control over his body. When he couldn't hold it in any more, Buu whooped in celebration.

"Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!" Majin Buu cheered over and over. "Yahoo! I'm free! I'm free!"

Majin Buu suddenly felt like celebrating his freedom, and there was no better way to party for him than to party with more of the Earthlings. With another whoop of joy, the demon rocketed away without a care in the world. To where he was going? Anywhere he wanted to!

Shortly, Majin Buu skidded to a halt in mid-air when a city came into view. He let out an exuberant yell as he dropped out of the air at breakneck speed. He sent the people of the city scattering, as he landed in the middle of the roadway. The part of the road where he landed at was shattered into two twenty-inch deep twin craters as his wide bulgy legs dug into the asphalt. The people looked horrified as they monitored Buu walking out of the hole, unscathed by the long fall. However, one of the residents quickly realized why their strange visitor had been unharmed who he was.

"ABUNAI YO! It's Majin Buu!" a middle-aged man yelled alarmingly. Almost instantly after hearing the announcement, people began screaming away in panic.

Majin Buu's cheerful expression vanished as his face twisted in vexation; he couldn't stand all of the yelling the Earthlings were doing. It was really annoying.

"Shizuka ni!" Buu roared, a pink aura blazing around his corpulent form, sending the cars that had came to a halt buffeting rearwards into one another, and causing horrible crashes and unpleasant explosions.

That only made citizens- those that were still left- scream even louder.

"That's it! You people irritating! Die!" the Majin howled in fury. He levitated in the air, a sphere of pink-hued energy incasing him. Crossing his arms, Majin Buu let out a high- pitched shriek, thrusting fists into the air. The sphere that was around him had then expanded outward, turning into a massive ball of ki that guzzled up the entire city and the people that inhabited it. When all was finally said and done, the only two things that had been left in tact were the afterimage of an explosion and the creator of all the chaos.

Above the mushroom-shaped cloud, Majin Buu laughed in malicious joy at his handiwork.

"That was fun! I go kill more people until those fighters show up!" And with that, the demon flew off to unleash more carnage onto the defenseless world.

"H-how awful!" Kuririn remarked, appalled by Majin Buu's actions as he observed the scene at the end of the courtyard, where his wife, Goku, Piccolo, and Kosumo stood watching as well.

Beside him, Amara glowered, her right fist clenching.

"Yeah, he is being pretty nasty about this," Goku said.

"Dammit! We really were too foolish in our thinking!" Piccolo growled.

"Now you understand what I meant," Kosumo said. "Without someone to keep a leash on Majin Buu, he's more violent than ever."

"That bastard could wipe out the entire planet whenever he wanted to!" Amara said angrily. "Including all of us up here!"

"It's all right! I think that's something we don't have to worry about," Goku said with strong conviction. Everyone looked his way.

"What do you mean?" Piccolo asked.

"When I told Buu that fighters even stronger than me would be showing up, he seemed pretty happy," Goku explained. "So, for the next two days at least, you guys should be safe here. I feel sorry for all the Earthlings down there, though."

"Hey, as long as we have the Dragonballs, we can always restore the planet and all lives of Majin Buu's victims," Kuririn said positively.

"Which means, no matter what, we have to get those four to master Fusion in two day's time," Piccolo said earnestly.

Kosumo nodded in agreement.

Amara glanced at the deity guardian, then she looked around over to her 'Fusion partner', who was currently watching her brother and son bond through some sparring, a tiny smile playing across her features. The Princess glowered. She may have agreed to go through with this, but it still didn't make it easier to merge together with a woman she has detested for many years now, and now she's been told that they only have two days to learn how to do this new finishing technique. Could they really learn to fuse in two days?

"That's what it means, all right," Goku said. "I have to teach them quick, or the time I have left will be..." The Saiyajin turned to the others to regard them with a earnest expression. "I ain't got more than an hour!"

"O-one hour!" Kuririn repeated, dismayed.

Amara stared at the other Saiyajin in surprise. Although, Kosumo didn't seem surprised at all.

"Kosumo-sama said that this might happen," Piccolo said. "But you should still have more time left than this!"

"Can we really learn Fusion in just one hour?" Goten inquired.

"That Super Saiyajin Three thing I did earlier?" Goku said. "It's a techinique that I can only use in the Other World. Here in this world, where you have time, it uses up too much energy, and as you might've noticed, it tires me out."

"You are looking short of breath," Kuririn remarked.

"Then just have Dende replenish your energy," Piccolo told him.

"He can't do that," Kosumo said.

"What?"

"She's right, Piccolo," Goku agreed. "This is something I have to return back to Other World for."

"If that's the case, then we should resume the Fusion training right away," Piccolo stated flatly.

"Piccolo-san's right," Kosumo agreed. Giving Goku a penetrating look, she added, "...but are you able to continue right now, Goku-san?"

"Yeah, of course," Goku said, trying to sound assuring. But as he continued to breath heavily and look even wearier, he wasn't really fooling anybody, and he knew it, too. "However, I think I can take a little time out to rest."

"That's what you think!" a voice disagreed.

Quickly turning in the direction the voice came from, everyone watched as a stubby, short woman donned in a witch's attire, come whizzing in onto the scene on a large crystal ball. Even Juunana-gou and Koji had stopped sparring as soon as they noticed her. She pulled up short in front of Goku.

"Urani O-Baba!" Goku exclaimed.

"Your remaining time as of now Goku...is down to thirty minutes. You better start preparing to return to the Other World"

"Less than thirty minutes?" Goku asked incredulously. "Wow! I knew I had shorten up my time here, but not but THAT much!"

"Well, that's the way it goes," Urani Baba replied sternly. "So, whatever you have to do, I'd advised you to do it quickly."

"Okay," Goku said resignedly.

"So what now, Goku?" Piccolo asked.

Looking serious, "Hm? Well, with me not having much time left, we have to speed things up a little. It's time to take the boys to next step of the Fusion training."

"And what would that be?" Kuririn asked.

Smiling a bit, Goku answered, "The Fusion Pose."

"Pose?" Amara repeated, lifting a brow. She looked towards Kosumo. "The Jinzouningen and I won't have to do some pose, will we?"

"I assure you, my type of Fusion requires no posing," Kosumo answered, sounding slightly amused.

Just then, Hoshi suddenly burst from the world below, touching down in a arc and powering down immediately. She wasn't alone, as she held an only-too familiar circular gadge in her right hand.

"Hi, I'm back!" she announced cheerily, smiling in self-achievement. "I have the Dragon Radar with me!"

Some of the others ran over to greet her, but unsurprisingly, her father had been the first one to draw up in front of her. Turning to Bulma, Hoshi held out the radar towards her, and the blue-haired woman accepted it gratefully.

"Thanks, Hoshi," she said gratefully. "Good job."

"Yeah, that's my little girl," Kuririn said proudly, placing a hand down atop of his only child's head.

* * *

With time being of the essence now, both Goku and Kosumo got to work initiating the boys and Juuhachi-gou and Amara in the ways of their individual Fusion techniques. The rest of the gang had broken up into groups of two to watch the training. Meanwhile, Gyuu Mao remained by his daughter's side, as she still hasn't recovered from the shock of losing her oldest son, plagued by nightmares.

Inside a inner sanctum, Goku taught his son and Koji the Fusion Pose; he even used an awkward Piccolo to aid him. All those watching, including Koji and Goten themselves, were left completely bemused (and balking from embarrassment in the boys' case) and beginning to wonder if such a technique really would work against Majin Buu. Soon it came time for the boys to perform the Fusion Pose, and of course their attempts didn't come without their mess-ups.

"Fusion...Ha!" Goten and Koji shouted together, their fighters touching perfectly this time.

However, Goku still looked disappointed.

"Koji, Goten, you two still aren't matching your breathing like I taught you." Goku sighed and shook his head a bit. Those two still had a long way ago, but he was still confident in them to master this technique within the next two days. "Okay, start over from the beginning."

"If they had to do the same type of training, Amara-san and Juuhachi-chan would've never agreed to do Fusion," Bulma observed, as the boys began the dance again. "I wonder how they're doing?"

Unsurprisingly, things weren't going much better.

Around the front of the palace, Kosumo once again stood watch over Juuhachi-gou and Amara, who were sitting across from one another, cross-legged, in another attempt to combine their minds. Or at least they were trying to do so. Kuririn and Juunana-gou stood nearby in silent support.

After another moment, Amara reopened her eyes with a frustrated snarl.

"Damn it! This is just not working!" she said brusquely, frowning up at the Guardian of Cosmos. "It will not work!"

"She's right," Juuhachi-gou agreed, reopening her eyes as well. She scowled. "I just can't merge my mind with hers!"

"You two are trying too hard," Kosumo critiqued. "Or should I say...not hard enough?"

"That's easy for you to say!" Amara retorted, both her and Juuhachi-gou glaring at the deity.

Kuririn sighed. "Amara-chan's being difficult again."

"Listen, Juuhachi-gou-san, Amara-san," Kosumo said patiently. "The main requirement to master my type of Fusion you two must successfully achieve one mind."

"One mind?" Juuhachi-gou repeated.

Kosumo nodded. "One mind...This is why I have you two meditate together. I want you two to pick up on the wavelength of each other's minds. When you do that, you will know each other's thoughts; know what that person is feeling. You will feel as if you have become one another. That is one mind." She frowned at them. "However, as long as you two continue to be stuck on the past, you will never succeed. Your squabbles may seem important to you, but in the face of a threat like Majin Buu, it's quite insignificant. When will you realize that?"

Amara and Juuhachi-gou glared mutinously at Kosumo, who met their hard gazes unwaveringly. Then the two women turned their glares on each other; and for a long moment icy blue and burning black clashed with another one in a contest of wills, before they finally closed their eyes.

_*Damn her! She has some nerve,* _Juuhachi-gou grumbled to herself._ *It's so easy for her to say all of that to us, when she doesn't understand just how much Amara and I hate each other.* _

_*How can I possibly unify my mind with the same bitch who's insulted my pride so many times?* _Amara demanded.

_*Even with Majin Buu on the loose, it's not that damn simple to just put the past behind us-at least not for me!* _Juuhachi-gou though fiercely. _*I'll never forget that feeling of sheer terror and powerlessness she inspired in me when her and Vegeta returned to the tournament under Babidi's spell!*_

_"So...why should I become one with HER!" _the two women unknowingly shouted inwardly at once.

On the heels of that single shared thought, something happened. A sensation, like a feeling of being struck by lightning, passed between them, and both Juuhachi-gou and Amara opened their eyes at the same time. The two gasped and gaped.

Not because of that, but because they realized that they were no longer sitting out on the courtyard, nor were Kosumo, Juunana-gou, or Kuririn anywhere to be found. They were starting to wonder if they were even on Earth anymore as they looked this way and that. It was if the two had suddenly been deposited into a world of blue ink while their eyes were shut. The Princess and the Jinzouningen turned their gaze back to one another.

_*Where are we?* _Amara asked.

_*That's what I'd like to know,* _Juuhachi-gou replied.

Both women gasped again. That time was due to the fact that when they both just talked, neither of their mouths moved, and their voices echoed around them.

_*Jin...zouningen?*_

_*A-Amara?*_

Amara grimaced. _*What the hell is this? Since when in the hell can we hear each other's thoughts!*_

Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened as a realization hit her. _*Unless...we actually did it!*_

Amara's eyes widened as well when she quickly caught on to what her rival was trying to say. _*Our minds...merged...?*_

Neither Juuhachi-gou nor Amara spoke a word for a long moment, both very stunned to discover that they had done what seemed impossible after all. They had accomplished one mnd. However, as soon as the shock faded, it was quickly replaced by a very bittersweet feeling. Yes, they had pass the first step, but...neither liked the fact that the other could now see their personal thoughts or share each other's feelings.

_*But I don't get it,*_ Juuhachi-gou said, frowning. _*How did this happen? If anything, I was trying not to let this happen!*_

_*The same,*_ Amara said gruffly. _*This whole Fusion crap just won't work between us!*_

_*Sure we're doing this to stop Majin Buu, but even he's not enough to make me want to join together with you!*_

Amara was about to agree with the blonde woman, but stopped when she and Juuhachi-gou suddenly noticed a flash of light beside them. Turning around, almost at the same time, the women gasped and stared at what they saw. While either could hardly believe it, they knew that they weren't dreaming. Floating above them in the dark sky was large circle of light, and within that light reflected the image of someone- a man, they both knew well. His face was drawn in a fierce scowl and his arms crossed over his chest.

"Vegeta!" they gasped in unison.

"What's going on here?" Amara demanded, confused. "Why are we seeing Vegeta?"

As the women then turned to each other, as if the other had the answer, an abrupt recognition hit them both hard. They realized that they had both been wrong, there was something strong enough to make them want to fuse together, a powerful emotion they both shared. As much they hated one another, it paled in comparison to the hatred they both felt towards Majin Buu. He had taken someone very important from them; even now they could feel the other's rage at how Vegeta had sacrificed himself for them, only for it to all be meaningless as Buu survived while he didn't.

Juuhachi and Amara looked at each other long and hard. All around them, images drifted in and out as they both reflected back on their rivalry. Their chance meeting during their first encounter with the Chaos Goddess Kaosu, their first battle and Juuhachi-gou tearing her tail off after easily defeating her, their second battle four years later on Earth where Amara had unexpected met back up with Vegeta after years of separation, grudgingly coming together to fight Kaosu once again, and finally their recent battle after they purposefully allowed Babidi to put him under his curse.

The images changed as the two women looked back on their respective times with Vegeta, and what he meant to them.

While it was true they may never like each other, avenging Vegeta was something they could both agree with. Where they had once visibly detested the idea of combining into one being, there was nothing but acceptance on their countenances now. Slowly, their mouths curled into identical dangerous smiles. They were once again allies in war; Buu wouldn't stand a chance.

"To think it would take that man to bring us together," Juuhachi-gou said with a soft laugh.

"Hey, android, what are you doing just sitting on your ass over there and doing nothing?" Amara admonished, but she was still smiling. "We have work to do!"

"Right!" Juuhachi-gou agreed.

The two closed their eyes again, concentrating and meditating. A purple glow silhouetted Amara, as a gold one outlined Juuhachi-gou's body...

Back in the physical world, something was happening. Everyone near them slipped into states of surprise, when they two saw the glows. But at the same time, a white aura burst from both their frames to fuse into one, leaving both women sitting in a nimbus of white fire.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Kuririn asked quizzically and worriedly.

"What's happening to them?" Juunana-gou asked.

"Fear not, my friends," Kosumo said in assuring tones. She was actually smiling proudly down at Juuhachi-gou and Amara. "Juuhachi-gou-san and Amara-san are very much all right, though if anything, what we see before our eyes now is a sign that they are more than just all right."

"What do you mean by that?" Dende wondered.

"It means that they have finally unified their minds together," she announced. "They are now ready to move on to the next step."

Following her words, the flames and light vanished from around the Jinzouningen and the Princess as suddenly as it appeared. Then both Juuhachi-gou and Amara reopened their eyes with tiny gasps.

"So, how are you two feeling?" Kosumo inquired.

The two women looked up at the Guardian of Kosumo for a brief moment, before turning back to each other. Slowly, equally menacing, cold smirks curled both their lips.

"Just fine," they both answered simultaneously.

* * *

The time for Goku's departure back to the Other World had finally arrived. News had spread rapidly throughout the whole Lookout, and his friends and family (except to Chichi and Gyuu Mao) had gathered outside to say goodbye to him.

"Well, everyone, looks like it's time for me to go back now," Goku said regrettably. "But in spite of all the bad things that happened here today, I still had a great time."

Goku turned to Piccolo.

"Piccolo, I'm counting on you to teach the boys the Fusion technique within the next two days," he said. Piccolo nodded in assurance. "Knowing them, they should be ready. Them and Juuhachi-gou-san and Amara."

"Goku..." Piccolo began. "When you get back, give Gohan my regards."

"Right," Goku said assuringly.

"Um, I still don't think Gohan's dead," Videl spoke up.

Goku smiled sympathetically back at the young girl.

"Goku-san," Kosumo said, a hint of a smile on her face, "when you return to the Other World, I believe it would be in your best interest to seek out Kaioushin-sama in the Kaioushin Realm."

"Eh? How come?" Goku asked, blinking.

"Just a...hunch," Kosumo replied, her faint simper turning mysterious and secretive.

Bulma stepped forward, tears already rolling down her face, she'd known Goku an essence of her life, she was the one that had brought him out of the mountains back when he was a child so he could see the world. If anything it was she who'd reshaped the Saiyajin's destiny into what it was.

"Son- kun..." the trailed off and cried as she reached up to hug Goku. the Saiyajin chuckled merrily as he clapped her back maladroitly. "It really is a shame that you have to back to Heaven so soon." She regrettably released him. "Well, take care."

"You too Bulma," Goku said, smiling.

"Well bud, I guess I'll be seeing ya'," Kuririn murmured as he stretched his hand out, Goku smiled down at his best friend and grasped his hand and shook it.

The Saiyajin then looked down as something tugged at his leg pants, his smile grew wider as he reached down to pick Goten up.

"Is something wrong Goten?" he asked.

"Otousan...do you really have to go?" the dark-haired half-Saiyajin asked, nearly on the verge of tears. Goku then knelt down to where he was at his son's level.

"Sorry, we couldn't spend much time together as I wanted us to Goten." Goku apologized.

Goten then hugged his father tightly, who hugged him back; some of the bystanders smiled at the tender scene. Momently, Goku stood Goten back on the ground. Koji and Hoshi immediately drew up on either side of their friend.

"Remember Goten and Koji- train hard to learn the Fusion technique, and you'll beat Majin Buu for sure!" Goku told them.

"Yes, sir!" the boys chimed.

"Goku-sa!" Everyone turned toward the palace just in time to see a revived Chichi racing out of the building. Within a few moments, Chichi had reached Goku and hugged him tightly, sobbing.

"Chichi..." Goku said, surprised by this.

"Don't you leave me, too!" Chichi pleaded, staring up at her husband. "I've already lost Gohan-chan. What will I do now?"

"What do you mean?" Goku asked, smiling. "You still have Goten, you're not alone."

"But I'm afraid he'll be killed as well if he tries to fight Majin Buu..."

"He'll be okay!" Goku assuaged. "As soon as those four successfully master Fusion, Majin Buu will be as good as finished. Don't worry, everything will work out in the end. Just watch!"

Shortly, Goku was rising up into the air with Baba. Everyone, except for Juunana-gou, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara, waved goodbye to the cherished hero.

"Bye you guys! See you when you die!" Goku called down cheerily, and then both he and Urani Baba were gone.

"Pick that jerk to say something so hapless," Kuririn said, still waving.

As soon as she stopped waving, Chichi turned to Goten and bent down to hug the young half-Saiyajin, immediately bursting into tears, Goten patted his mother's back in a unconscious fashion of his father.

After this had went on for a long time, Piccolo's expression hardened determinedly and his clawed hands clenched into fists at his side.

"Listen up, everyone," he said loudly so everybody could hear him. "It's time to forget all the sentimentality for right now. We still have preparation to do, otherwise we really will be seeing Goku soon."

Juuhachi-gou, Koji, Goten, and Kosumo all nodded in agreement. While she didn't make a visible respone, the serious expression on Amara spoke loudly for her.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	43. The Birth of Juumara and Gotenji

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ. I do own Gotenji (kinda; see, even though I came up with the name, Gotenji is really just going to look like Gotenks from the anime show, only without the purple streaks in his hair, and will also have his attacks.) and Juumara (she is my own creation), the Fusion forms of Goten + Koji and Juuhachi-gou + Amara. Read and enjoy!**

**Chapter Forty-Three: The Birth of Juumara and Gotenji**

* * *

"It's time. Follow me."

Everyone out on the courtyard instantly stopped whatever they were doing and looked around as soon as Piccolo's half-gruff, half-solemn voice reached their ears. No one needed to question the Namekseijin on what he'd just meant, for they already knew. Since Goku's departure back to Other World with Baba yesterday, Piccolo had been working diligently to get Koji and Goten prepared to properly perform Fusion. Much to the annoyance of Amara, this forced her and Juuhachi-gou to wait before they themselves could undergo Fusion. Amara had told Piccolo waiting like this was pointless, saying that whatever she and Juuhachi-gou fused into could take care of this without the boys' help. However, Piccolo firmly said he wasn't taking anything to chance with Majin Buu and that they were stricking to Goku's plan to have them and Goten and Koji fight Majin Buu together.

Meanwhile, the rest of the gang had done one thing or another to pass up the time while they had to wait for the signal that the four warriors were ready. The majority of the men (including even Juunana-gou) passed up the time enjoying a game of cards, with Dende and Mr. Popo acting as spectators; meanwhile, the other women passed up the time playing with Bra. But now it was time to see all of the training come to fruition.

"Man, I haven't been this excited since- since Goku's return!" Kuririn said, rising from his place on the ground and falling into footsteps with everyone else, as Piccolo led them all to the front of the palace.

"Hm. I wonder what those four will look like when they fuse," Yamucha said thoughtfully.

"I'm more interested in is what Juuhachi-gou and Amara will turn into!" Muten Roshi said, smiling lecherously. "They're both already hot babes seperately, so they'll probaby be even hotter as one person."

Overhearing him, Kuririn glanced at the Turtle Elder, and then his eyes turned heavenward as he considered his words. By the time he had completely envisioned it, a blush was staining his face. Interlacing his hands behind his head, Kuririn laughed. "You know, you may be on to something there, Master Roshi."

"What name do you suppose they'll have when they're through mergin'?" Chichi inquired.

"I don't think it'll matter, really," Bulma opined, smiling. "After all, they'll just be fused for thirty minutes."

"But we should still call them by something," Chichi insisted. "How about Gotenji and Juumara? Or Koten and Amaragou?" After thinking it over, Chichi shook her head. "Naw, any of those names probably wouldn' work at all."

They had all arrived shortly later to find all four of the Fusion partners standing near the palm trees; Juuhachi-gou and Amara together on one side, while Koji and Goten did the same on the other side, with Kosumo, Hoshi Dende, and Mr. Popo standing before the determined-looking foursome. Piccolo separated from the others and went to draw up in front of the boys. All the bystanders instantly quieted, as the show was about to start.

"You four..." Piccolo started.

"Begin!" Kosumo instructed.

Simultaneously, Amara and Juuhachi-gou closed their eyes, their brows furrowed together in concentration. Within a couple of moments, a purple nimbus filled the Saiyajin Princess's outline, while a gold one did the same to Juuhachi-gou. From the side of their temple that was closest to each other, purple and gold lights shot forth and connected in the center; in response, their individual auras blazed brighter and higher around them before merging together around the two women. Everyone except Juunana-gou and Kosumo shielded their eyes from the brilliance.

"Here they go!" Kuririn said in expectation.

Juuhachi-gou suddenly spoke, eyes still shut. "You are me..."

"I am you..." Amara replied.

Then, together, reopening their eyes, they said, "We are one!"

Right after, Koji and Goten moved their arms from left to right, shouting, "Fusion Haaa!" they finished in unison; while Koji and Goten had touched index fingers.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise at the scene in complete and utter astonishment. Amara's and Juuhachi-gou's bodies broke up into blue and red molecules, and went shooting into the rings. Bright beams began spinning wildly over the rings as they moved towards one another like magnets and merged into one, and the orb of lights expanded. Meanwhile, the two boys became glowing silhouettes of blue and red lights that irresistibly pulled them together, making them resemble a glowing cross for a moment. Everyone, held up their arms as hurricane winds came blasting at them all from the untamed power that spread across the Tenkai; even Juunana-gou's advanced vision couldn't handle the total output. The tiled floor beneath everyone's rattled violently, the fronds on the two palm trees were rustled harshly. And after another moment of this, the tempest of the raging storm finally stopped as the two figures suddenly appeared as the spheres started to diminish. The gang stared in quiet stupor.

In the spot where Amara and Juuhachi-gou stood, was now a lone very beautiful warrior, who was a successful amalgam of the two women. She had the Saiyajin no Oujo's charcoal eyes, the cyborg's gold-white brows, and as well as her smooth and perfect skin tone. Blonde highlights ran through her long, black hair, which was fashioned in a high ponytail, a few black bangs hovering over her forehead. She wore a V-shaped top that resembled a sports bra made from cobalt-blue leather, bordered with thick, yellow padding, the same which also surrounded her shoulders. Cobalt-blue gauntlets circled her arms, and on either hand she wore the Galactic Rings. She wore white poofy pants and a cobalt-blue obi that was tied in the back, and matching cobalt-blue boots. But as beautiful as she was, it slightly paled to the air of immense strength that surrounded her.

Noticing the looks she was getting from the others, in response, the female Fusion brushed strands of her hair out of her face behind her left ear in a imitation of Juuhachi-gou. Then her lovely face split in half with a haughty Amara-like smirk.

"Awesome!" Juunana-gou remarked, obviously impressed.

"They were successful!" Piccolo said, amazed. "They're completely overfilled with ki!"

"Yeah, I'll say!" Muten Roshi agreed, equally impressed with the woman's strength and her looks.

Kosumo watched the new warrior with a smile of achievement.

"All right! They did it!" the others chorused excitedly.

"Hey! Koji and Goten are about to appear!" Hoshi informed the others excitedly.

Everyone turned toward the ball of light that still concealed the boys hovering beside the Amara and Juuhachi-gou combination, watching with presentiment.

"I can't wait to see what my Goten-chan looks like with Koji," Chichi said.

No one would have to wait any longer, as the light finally receded around her son and Juuhachi-gou's. But when it did, no one could believe their eyes.

"H-hey isn't that..."Kuririn couldn't finish his words as shock had completely overwhelmed him.

Piccolo's mouth was practically sagging against the floor of the Tenka now, and Juunana-gou's eyes were saucer-sized. Even the normally dignified Kosumo was gawking in dumbfoundment.

Catching everyone's thunderstruck expressions, the female Fusion decided to take a gander at the other Fusion, too. As soon as she looked down at the figure beside her, the coalesced woman stared in open confoundment.

"Koji...?...Goten? Is that really you?" she asked, her voice a perfect shock hybrid of Juuhachi-gou's and Amara's.

Granted, the combining of Goten and Koji had been successful...somewhat. They were now one whole being, and were dressed in new clothes that. He had hair of black, upswept spikes, though red hair streaked the sides. However, unlike his counterpart, he as nearly as obese as Majin Buu himself was.

An awkward silence followed as no one knew what to make of the pudgy boy born from a union between Goten and Koji.

"T-they will, in fact, turn back to normal in thirty minutes, right?" Bulma asked, still gawping.

"I-I can't love that all," Chichi said, consternated.

Standing beside Dende and Mr. Popo, Hoshi was struggling to hold back her laughter.

"Papa would never believe any of this in a million years," said Videl, wide-eyed.

"Is this really one of the strong guys Goku said could beat Majin Buu?" Kuririn wondered.

"Hey, maybe he's supposed to look this way," Yamucha said with sudden enthusiasm. "Yeah, like an eye for an eye, a fatso for a fatso! This must've been Goku's plan all along."

Everyone else didn't look convinced.

"Dear, are you sure?" Bulma asked skeptically. "Juuhachi-chan and Amara didn't come out like this at all."

Turning, they all saw, the female Fusion was taken advantage of the incredible agility her compact body possessed as she tossed out experimental punches and kicks in the air at lighting fast speed.

Meanwhile, her younger counterpart was throwing out punches as well, but at much, much slower rate. Then he started to run, but just as he passed by Juumara, he paused and hunched over, breathing hard as if he just finished running an all-day marathon. Everyone looked at him expectantly. The boy raised his head.

"I'm tired!" he declared.

The majority of the bystanders fell over.

"Something's definitely wrong here," Master Roshi concluded.

Gathering his composure, Piccolo approached the fused boy.

"Hey, you!" he said, instantly getting the boy's attention. "Dammit, I knew it. During the "-sion" pose just now, Koji had his fingers sticking out!" Piccolo mirrored Koji's incorrect pose. "During this point, your hands must be in fists." Piccolo clenched his fists twice in demonstration. "Okay? You got that? All right, then. You're going to split back into two people. Then fuse back together again, but you're going to do it right next time!"

Piccolo looked down at the pudgy Fusion expectantly. And when he didn't do anything after a moment, he scowled at the boy in annoyance.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" he barked. "Break back up into two people again, already!"

"How do I break back down into two people again?" the boy Fusion asked.

It was then that Piccolo realized that Goku had never even told him how. He just assumed the boys would know how to on their own. To cover up his gauffe, he brought his fist up to his mouth to stifle a cough.

"There's no choice," he decided as he walked off to the side. "We'll have to wait to thirty minutes go by then."

Seeing that all they could do was wait, everyone crowded around the two newest members of their group to get acquainted with them.

"This is strange!" Kuririn remarked. "You're not either Amara and Juuhachi-gou, or Koji and Goten."

"So, what are your names?" Yamucha inquired.

"Juumara," the woman Fusion said, running her fingers through bangs in a Juuhachi-gou fashion.

"Gotenji," said the boy Fusion.

Chichi clapped her hands in delight. "See? It's Gotenji and Juumara after all!"

Juumara frowned warily at Muten Roshi as he suddenly approached her.

"What do you want old man?" she asked coldly.

"Oh, nothing," Roshi said, "I just wanted to say hello to you in person." Even though he tried to sound innocent, it was pretty obvious his thoughts were far from it as he was openly staring at Juumara's chest. "You know, you're more well-developed in the chest than Kuririn's old girlfriend Maron had been. Mind if I have a feel?"

Even as Roshi dared to reach out and actually touch the fusion woman in such a fashion, Juumara moved with lightning speed and pushed Roshi in the forehead with her index finger. Though as harmless as the blow had been, then impact of it had still been enough to send the dirty old martial artist sprawling across the courtyard, before his trajectory ended at the base of one of the palm trees. Those who had seen it looked from Juumara to the fallen Muten Roshi then back to Juumara in awe.

"Humph!" Bulma said unsympathetically. "It serves him right!"

"Is he always like that?" Videl asked inquisitively.

"Yes!" came a communal reply.

"I'm hungry, and I'm tired!" Gotenji complained suddenly.

"Hey, you can eat just as soon as you get the Fusion right," Piccolo's voice answered as he walked back to the pudgy half-Saiyajin hybrid.

After a while, thirty minutes had finally come and gone, and soon Juumara and Gotenji were briefly surrounded by golden light, before they separated back into two pairs of whole beings. When the light faded, the Saiyajin no Oujo, the Jinzouningen and the two half-Saiyajin children reappeared. They gasped as they looked down at themselves in equal confusion.

"So, did we do it?" Koji asked.

"I don't know," Goten answered.

"Yeah," Yamucha assured them. However, at the blank looks on the faces of the children, Yamucha looked puzzled. "Wait, you mean the two of you don't remember what happened?"

"Some of it," Goten replied.

"What about you Amara and Juuhachi-gou?" Kosumo asked. "Do you two remember anything?"

Both women exchanged glances, then looked back at the Guardian and nodded.

"I definitely remember doing that," Amara replied, referring to Roshi's twitching form resting ungainly on the ground.

"So do I," Juuhachi-gou said, frowning.

"How was it like being too people at once, Sis?" Juunana-gou asked.

"It was kinda strange, to be sure," Juuhachi-gou replied.

"Right," Amara agreed, frowning. "If it wasn't for the fact we still had to defeat Majin Buu, I'd never do it again!"

Even as she said that, the princess still remembered the power and speed that radiated through Juumara when she and her rival were joined together. Something which, she knew, would take her years to obtain on her own...

Koji and Goten both turned to see a snickering Hoshi walking towards them. They looked at her curiously.

"And just what's so funny?" Goten asked.

"You two should've seen yourself! You both were soooooo fat!" Hoshi explained, snickering even more. "You two tired yourselves out just by throwing two punches!"

Unable to hold it in after telling the boys that, she burst into full-blown laughter. The boys blushed brilliantly in embarrassment, then scowled at Hoshi.

"Oh, shut up!" they snapped in unison.

"Still, you were all able to merge!" Videl said enthusiastically.

"Sorry, but I'd like to have you save your talk until after they've beaten Majin Buu," Piccolo said in a no-nonsense tone. "Right now, we don't even have a moment to spare."

"Piccolo-san is right," Kosumo agreed, looking serious. "While the mergers were somewhat successful, these four still have a long way to go before they face off against Majin Buu."

"All right, let's do it again," Piccolo said.

Moments later, the four warriors were in position again. While Amara and Juuhachi-gou fused without words this time, Koji and Goten did the Fusion dance and chant, but just like last time things got messed up. When the boys when to connect their fingers, they missed. Both Piccolo and Kosumo immediately noticed that, however, there was nothing to be done, as bright light soon filled the Tenka again for several moments. When it finally diminished, everyone glanced back up. While they weren't less amazed to see that the ladies' Fusion had been successful yet again, they became instantly stunned at the brand new Gotenji-or rather the old and gaunt Gotenji standing before them.

"They've messed up again," Master Roshi remarked.

"You can tell by one look," Kuririn agreed.

"He hasn't done anything this time, and already he's exhausted," Yamucha said.

Beside Gotenji, Juumara sighed and shook her head.

"As soon as I saw how off your fingers were during the "Ha", I immediately expected to see such another blunder," Piccolo said. "Let's do it again."

In response, Gotenji broke out into a bout of wheezing coughs.

"In another thirty minutes, of course," Juumara said.

After snapping out of their bemusement the group waited for thirty more minutes, and both Juumara and Gotenji split back in two beings each. It was somewhat hilarious how Piccolo lectured the two half-Saiyajin children on keeping all their fingers straight while doing the dance and that they didn't have a whole lot of time for this as the day to challenge Majin Buu was quickly approaching.

Koji and Goten breathed deeply as they stood in position with Juuhachi-gou and Amara again, ready for a third try at the becoming one being.

"FUSION...HAAA!" Piccolo smiled in satisfaction when the half-Saiyajin boys had done everything just right this time, forming a perfect mirror, as they pressed their index fingers together, their bodies glowed as their two frames slid into each other and a blast of power exploded over the Tenka courtyard...

After a moment or so everything had calmed and everybody looked up ahead and smiled concurrently in joy. It's true what people say after all, third time is the charm. This time they didn't see an overweight Fusion or an old geezer crossbreed standing alongside Juumara. This time it was the real deal. Even Juumara thought so as she stared down at her son-nephew in approval. Gotenji stood before his audience, wearing a smug smile on his face that reminded everyone of Vegeta; his fists planted on his lean hips, the sunlight glistened off his tan washboard abs.

Everyone was staring in shock for another reason now.

"There was no mistake this time, this is the true Gotenji!" Piccolo declared.

"W-what a storm of ki!" Master Roshi stammered.

"T-they've done it!" Hoshi enthused. "They succeeded!"

"Incredible, incredible!" Videl cheered.

"I can't really tell, but they must be extraordinary," Bulma commented.

"Lookin' at them, they do seem pretty awesome," Chichi agreed.

"What are you saying?" Videl asked them. "Even I can tell at least that much! Incredible! His ki is just about as amazing as Juumara's!"

Standing beside her half-son-half-nephew, Juumara regarded him in a mix of pride and astonishment.

"Okay, this finally turned out right," Piccolo said, greatly pleased with the results this time. "But I think we still aren't ready for Buu , in thirty more minutes, we'll next try to do this as Super Saiyajin- -nande yo?" Piccolo stopped talking when the new Gotenji started waving a finger at him while wearing Vegeta's arrogant smirk on his face.

"I think you're really underestimating us, Piccolo," Gotenji told him.

"What was that!" Piccolo demanded.

"Even as we are now, both of us are more than enough to take on Majin Buu," Gotenji added smugly. "In fact, I don't even need mother's help to take fatso on at all. I'm all you'll need for this fight!"

Juumara glared indignantly down at the boy. "Now wait just one minute, you little brat! You're a million years ahead of yourself if you think you're better than me!"

"Listen here, you idiot!" Piccolo shouted, although Gotenji was doing anything but listen to him. "You have no idea how truly frighten Majin Buu is!"

"Piccolo-san is right," Kosumo said. "No matter how incredible you may say, at both your levels, it's still impossible to defeat Majin Buu!"

"Don't think too lightly of me!" Gotenji warned, pointing a finger at them. "Okay, fine! I'll show you all right now! Majin Buu's body, that is!"

Following those, Gotenji levitated high into the air over everyone.

"Wait one moment, Koten!" Piccolo shouted.

"Er, it's Gotenji," Mr. Popo corrected.

Ignoring them, Gotenji scanned the world below for Majin Buu's ki. He found it at once.

"This way, huh?" he said. "Fairly close-by. In that case, give me thirty minutes, and I'll defeat him and return in time to give back plenty of change!"

So saying, Gotenji raced off at top speed.

"Wow, he's fast!" Videl said, awed.

"Mm-hmm," Hoshi agreed.

"Damn him!" Piccolo said angrily. "If that miserable idiot gets himself killed, then everything we've worked so hard for will be meaningless!"

"He's an arrogant bastard, but he may just be able to do it," Kuririn said.

"Yeah, he seemed pretty sure of himself," Yamucha added.

Kosumo turned to Juumara. "Juumara, I would feel a whole lot better if you went after him. He's going to need your help, no matter what he says!"

"I was going to even before you said anything," Juumara replied. "He is my son, after all." An Amara-like snarl then curled her lips. "Plus, I refuse to shown up by that little punk!"

Not wasting another second, the half-Jinzouningen-half Saiyajin ran towards the edge of the tower, then rose into the air like a jet after her obstinate counterpart. The others back on the courtyard stared in openmouthed shock again.

"And I thought Gotenji's speed was great..." Kuririn said.

* * *

It didn't take Gotenji long at all to find the Majin. When the hybrid had come across his target eventually, Buu was immersed in his usual, destructive playtime in a coastal city, and as well as with the passengers of two cruise ships that was leaving port.

_*That's right, have all the fun you can get,* _he sneered. His face twisted in cold anger. _*Because today's the last time you'll ever kill anyone else!*_

Touching down atop one of the cruise ships that had got upturned in the sea by the demon, Gotenji quietly watched as some unfortunate man, who obviously couldn't swim, unknowingly grabbed onto Majin Buu to pull himself out of the water. However, upon realizing just who he'd thought 'saved' him, the man started screaming in terror, much to Buu's hatred. Flinging him carelessly into the air, Buu shot up a ki blast at him, propelling the man even higher into the atmosphere before he was killed in a bland explosion.

Gotenji smirked. It was time to make himself known! Stretching out his hands, the hybrid gathered a ball of ki and fired. The attack hit Buu on target, piercing through the demon's body like paper. After he quickly sealed the hole up with more skin, Buu looked this way and that for the person shot him, before he finally spun around and looked up high, noticing the small figure cresting the top of the capsized vessel.

"You're a tough creep, aren't you?" Gotenji spoke for the first time. "That's just my way of saying hello, but I knew it wouldn't effect you myself."

Majin Buu quickly drew up on the same air level as Gotenji, glaring at him in annoyance.

"Who are you?"

"Hmph! Why tell my name to someone's who about to die?" Gotenji asked mockingly. "Talk about pointless!"

"About to die?" Buu repeated.

Chuckling, Gotenji drew back into a fighting stance. "Unfortunately for you, I don't have time to make small talk. I gotta take care of you lickety-split!"

"Why, you smart-aleck!"

"Okay! Here I come!" Gotenji declared, already launching into action.

In the scope of an instant, a dent marred the Majin's body with the accompaniment of a fist against flesh. More covered his body as the hybrid struck at Buu with powerful blows in the time it took to count to five, the last blow propelling the corpulent Majin through the air at swift velocity before he slammed hard into a tanker.

As Gotenji followed up with a ki blast, high up in the air, Juumara surveyed the fight, concealing her ki so she wouldn't be noticed. She had easily caught up to Gotenji, in fact, could have easily overtook him before he even found Buu if she wanted to. However, on the way there, her curiosity of seeing just how strong her half son-half nephew really was piqued. So for now, she decided to sit back and see her counterpart prove all of the bravado he spoke earlier. No matter how much the 'Amara side' of her wanted to join in the battle badly...

Down below, Gotenji grabbed a hold of Buu's head tentacle, spun him around a few times before hurtling him hard into the sea. Firing a ki blast for good measure, light exploded out of the water, harmlessly swallowing Gotenji up for a moment, and then it died down completely.

"Hmph! Fatty!" Gotenji mocked triumphantly. "Call yourself a Majin and that's all you got? And now look what you made me do! I was supposed to take you back to the others so that they could see, and now I've vaporized it! Well, nothing I can do about it, now?"

Despite the unreadable expression Juumara regarded Gotenji with after he seemingly destroyed Buu, behind the look of indifference a conversation was going on.

_*Dammit! We're letting that cocky little runt take all of the action!* _Amara complained. _*Why are we just standing here Jinzouningen! And why in the hell do you have more influence over this body than I do!*_

_*Don't blame me, I wasn't the one who decided that,* _Juuhachi-gou replied. _*But seriously, do you actually think he defeated Majin Buu just now?*_

There was a pause. Then Amara replied, _*Of course not.*_

As soon as she said that, Gotenji was realizing this himself when the lower half of Majin Buu's body suddenly rose up out of the sea before him.

"What!" Gotenji asked, drawing back in surprise. He witnessed in dismay as the Majin regenerated his upper body, making himself whole again. "N-no way!"

"You called me fatty, huh?" Buu asked, pointing accusingly at the hybrid. He steamed. "Now I'm mad!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" Gotenji challenged.

Majin Buu glared malevolently at him. "Gonna kill you now!"

Then he dematerialized, rematerializing right in Gotenji's face. Majin Buu lashed out with a right cross. Smirking, Gotenji thought he could easily avoid this, but to his shock, Buu overtook his senses and struck home with a wicked punch, sending the Fusion warrior plummeting toward the ocean. But Buu wouldn't let him go that easily; appearing right over him, the demon drove Gotenji against the surface of the see with a chain of snapping rights and lefts.

Within a matter of moments, Gotenji was well-pummelled. His right eye was swollen completely shut, more bruises covered the rest of his body, and the right leg of his pants had been ripped off at the knee. Looking up through his good eye, Gotenji shivered as Majin Buu hovered over him, wearing an unpleasant grin. Reaching down, Buu grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up to the level of his face, snickering. Buu lashes out with a headbutt, sending the hybrid sailing back a great distance before he slapped into the side of a wall.

_*H-he's going to kill me!* _Gotenji said in cold realization, as he watched Buu gather ki in his right hand.

"Die!" Majin Buu stretched his hand forward, about to fire...

Then from out of nowhere, a huge ki blast slammed into the demon hard, swallowing him completely. Moments later when the smoke cleared, fragments of Majin Buu floated in the air. But things wouldn't be that way for long, as the pieces of the demon almost immediately started to pull themselves back into each other, rebuilding his body from scratch. Within seconds, Buu was a full Majin again, with his features quickly returning.

"Who did that?" Buu asked, looking around for the culprit. He then noticed that Gotenji was now gone. "And where annoying boy go?"

Unknown to Majin Buu, the people he sought were a lot closer than he thought. Over behind the lighthouse, Juumara observed the angry Majin from behind the corner, but quickly pulled back out of sight before he noticed. She then turned to the battered boy she held in the air by his collar, and scowled down at him.

"You're the only one we're need for this fight, huh?" Juumara mockingly asked, reminding her counterpart of his boast earlier. "You look like something I'd toss in a trash bin without a second thought!"

When Gotenji laughed foolishly, he immediately stopped after Juumara's expression turned a few shades colder. She released him.

"Come on, we're going to back to the Lookout," she told him.

"But what about Majin Buu?" Gotenji asked. "He's still..."

"Idiot! Haven't you realized yet?" Juumara asked. "We're still no match for him at all. His reserves are still too tremendous for us to pose a real threat to him. Yes, I'm stronger than you, but not by much, I hate to admit. And because of that, even working together against Buu would do no good."

Gotenji looked like he wanted to argue, but then thought the better of it.

"Oh, alright..." he relented.

Juumara was about to say something, however, her words were cut off by a sudden "boom". Her and Gotenji quickly looked around the lighthouse, and the two stared in equal surprise when they found the city's military and air force arriving on the scene, belting Majin Buu repeatedly with gunfire until the demon was engulfed in a large sphere of glowering, red-orange flames.

"Th-those fools!" Juumara hissed. "Hold back, all of you!"

"Majin Buu isn't an opponent you can handle!" Gotenji shouted. "Get out of here, quick!"

All of a sudden, at the center atop of the flaming orb sitting in the sea, an all-too familiar figure rose out, surrounded in his own sphere. Utter rage dominated Majin Buu's features, as he glared at all of the annoying people.

"Everybody, everybody..." Buu hissed.

"STOP!" Gotenji shouted with final desperation.

"It's too late! C'mon!" Grabbing Gotenji by the arm, Juumara flew away him from the scene at top speed. Just as-

"NOW DIE!" Majin Buu bellowed, his ki surging outward to envelop everyone and everything in a tremendous explosion.

* * *

The mood at the Lookout was grim again. Almost everyone was wearing expressions of worry, after their last two hopes for survival had flown off and still hadn't returned.

Just then, someone touched down on God's Palace. Everyone immediately looked up to see Juumara standing where no one had been standing a second ago.

"Hey, you came back," Kuririn said in relief. He immediately noticed someone was missing. "Where's Gotenji?"

With a humph, Juumara stepped aside, revealing bruised and batter young hybrid. There was more than one gasp of alarm.

"G-Goten!" Chichi stammered in dismay.

"I got beaten all up, pretty good," Gotenji said, laughing sheepishly.

"I'll say!" Juumara agreed. "Lucky for you I did decide to follow you."

"Cocky brat, this is exactly what you deserve!" Piccolo admonished as he approached him. "Now do you see what I was trying to tell you? You're still not ready for someone of Majin Buu's level yet. Neither of _you._" His last comment was directed at Juumara, pointedly looking at her as he did so, immediately ignoring the venomous scowl she tossed at him as he turned his gaze back on Gotenji. "Your fight with Majin Buu comes one more day, until then, you'll train as hard as you can. Once you've gotten a bit stronger, your Fusion will be more effective! Got that, Koten?"

"I think you mean, Gotenji," Juunana-gou corrected.

"Whatever! Do you got that?" Piccolo asked the Fusion again.

Gotenji nodded.

"Well, you certainly have everything in control, Piccolo-san," Kosumo remarked suddenly, stepping forward. "Which is why I feel very confident in leaving the remainder of Juuhachi-gou and Amara's training in your hands."

"What!" Piccolo said in surprise. "Kosumo-sama, you're leaving too?"

The Guardian of Cosmos nodded. "Besides training Juumara to use Super Saiyajin, there's nothing left I need to teach, they have mastered the Fusion technique excellently. You can easily handle that." Kosumo then turned to Juumara. "As long as you two remember to unify your minds, you will be fine. I will return for the Galactic Rings later. Good luck, my friends." So saying, Kosumo vanished right in front of them.

A long pause followed. Kuririn was the one who first spoke again.

"That's easy for her to say," he said sulkily.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	44. Lunch Break

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ, but I do own my original characters. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Forty-Four: Lunch Break**

* * *

"_Itai_! Ouch, Mom!" Koji wailed.

"Hold still!" Juuhachi-gou ordered, looking highly irritated while she tended to the bruises her son had gotten from Gotenji's losing battle against Majin Buu earlier.

The Jinzouningen was inwardly reprimanding herself for not bringing Gotenji back to the Tenka as soon as Juumara caught up to him. At the time, she had thought that watching how effective Gotenji would be against Majin Buu was a good idea, and that's why she didn't step in to help until the very end. And then she remembered the fear that had gripped Juumara's heart when the Majin had nearly killed him; she hated to think what would have happened to had she let Gotenji go off on his own.

It would be yet another person Buu had taken away from her.

"Okaasan, that hurts!" Koji cried again, wincing as his mother washed down one of his lacerated arms with a cotton swab that had been dipped in some kind of fluid that really stung his cut-up skin. However, Juuhachi-gou didn't seem to hear him, appearing to be lost in thought as she absently nursed her son's injuries.

Her brother noticed it. Amara did as well.

When Majin Buu was about to go in for the kill on Gotenji, Amara had felt the same feeling of apprehension that her rival did. She had felt the same feeling of desperation Juuhachi-gou felt when she rushed into action to save her son. She had also felt the same feeling of self-loathing for even allowing this to happen. So being the other half of Juumara, Amara understood better than anyone else there how the Jinzouningen was currently feeling. Even more so than Chichi.

Speaking of Chichi, beside Juuhachi-gou and Koji, Goten wasn't faring any better. His mother was doctoring on his wounds as well, and at the same time scolding him. Meanwhile, nearby, everyone else watched it all in silence.

"There! Maybe this will teach you not to run off so recklessly into battle!" Chichi chastised her son, as she finished with Goten a few seconds later than Juuhachi-gou did with Koji. As her youngest son stared up at her apologetically, her expression changed from anger to discontent. "Now, please don't do something so foolish like that again, Goten-chan. I don't want to lose you, too; you're the only one I have left."

That made Goten look even more miserable than he already did, as he realized Majin Buu could've killed him a few moments ago when he and Koji were Gotenji, and he would've made his mother sad.

"I'm sorry, Okaasan," he said.

Chichi smiled down at her son, half-relieved, half-grateful.

"Now that's my good little boy," she said.

Juuhachi-gou had heard the whole exchange between Chichi and her son, and then she looked deliberately back down at her own. She still looked annoyed.

"So, will you be trying that little stunt of yours again?" she asked.

"No," Koji promised, having the grace to look guilty.

It was a short while later before the women had finally finished up treating the boys' wounds. Mr. Popo gathered the cotton swabs and the other medical supplies, and took them back inside the palace.

"Man, those bruises really look like they hurt," Hoshi commented as she walked over to her cousin and best friend. Curiously, she reached out and lightly poked at the purplish bruise on Koji's bicep. Despite how soft touched it, Koji still jumped and yelped; he tossed a glare at the dark-haired girl, while rubbing the offending spot.

"Hey, don't do that!" he snapped.

"Oops, _gomen_!" Hoshi apologized.

"Don't apologize, he deserves it!" Piccolo growled, giving both Koji and Goten a fierce glare. "What the hell were you two thinking, going down there without even training with your new powers first! You boys make up Earth's two last glimmers of hope, and we can't afford any mess-ups because of your childish antics!"

The boys lowered their heads simultaneously in shame as the impact of the Namekseijin's words hit them hard.

"Hmph! It's like I told you, they aren't ready for this," Amara said. "Them and their little half-baked war plays will just get in the way!"

"You're wrong!" Koji blurted.

More than one person looked at him in surprise.

"I know Goten and I made a mistake, but _we _are ready for this!" Koji added. "I want to defend the Earth just like my Papa tried to, and to do that I will become even stronger than Papa was!"

Several people had started at Koji in surprise after his speech, however, none of them were looking as surprised at Koji than his mother was. Juuhachi-gou was looking as if she was truly seeing her son for the very first time. At that moment, her son was a farcry from the mischievous little boy he'd been just earlier that day. Her mouth then twitched in a faint, proud smile.

"Now, that's more like it you two," Piccolo said, almost smiling at the boys in approval.

He then strolled over to where the boys were standing. Koji and Goten watched the Namekseijin approach with a mix of a bit of nervousness and a bit of wariness. When the green warrior drew up in front of them, the two suddenly got a crazy notion that Piccolo was about to strike them or something as he reached out towards them with both his taloned hands, causing the boys to flinch from the gesture. However, the two soon learned that their fears were unfounded when Piccolo only gently grasp the boys' heads.

"You know something," he said, letting his words hang in the air as he stared down directly at the boys. The two young half-Saiyajins met his hard gaze back with unflinching curiosity. And then he smiled at them. "I think you boys are going to do just fine against Majin Buu. You two are remarkable young men...just like both your fathers."

On that line, Piccolo's hands abruptly flared with a pale light that engulfed the two boys. In the next instant, all the wounds and rips and tears Goten and Koji had sustained in their battle against Buu a while ago had been either sown back up or completely healed. It was if the two had never been fighting at all. They stared down at themselves and at each other in amazement.

"Wow! Cool!" Koji said, impressed.

"Thank you, Piccolo-san!" Goten said gratefully.

"Good, now we can resume the Fusion preparation," Piccolo said. "You four have now successfully fused together, so it's time to take this to the next level. It's now to fuse together as Super Saiyajin."

Juuhachi-gou scowled at Piccolo. "In case you've forgotten, I can't even become a Super Saiyajin."

"Exactly," Amara said. "So how are we going to fuse into a single Super Saiyajin?"

Piccolo flushed in embarrassement from the question. He'd obviously forgotten about that part, but Piccolo tried to cover his mistake up by making a show of clearing his throat.

"Well, um...that's simple," he said. "You two fuse like you have been doing, only Amara will do it as a Super Saiyajin."

"Whatever you say," Juuhachi-gou answered dismissively, crossing her arms.

In the next instant, everyone's attention was drawn automatically onto Koji and Goten, when both their stomachs started rumbling loudly in complaint at the lack of food they'd been getting. The boys colored in embarrassment. Piccolo frowned a bit at the two half-Saiyajin in annoyance.

"Let me guess...you two are hungry, correct?" he asked dryly.

"Mmm-hm!" the boys answered at the same time.

"Well, too bad!" Piccolo told them. "Eating is gonna have wait!"

"But-" the boys tried to protest.

"No buts! You two, along with Amara and Juuhachi-gou will be fighting against Majin Buu as a Super Saiyajin tomorrow, and I want you two to be fully prepared for when it happens. And that means I don't want you two wasting your time stuffing your faces."

"Ah, man!" Koji groaned miserably. His and Goten's stomach expressed the unfairness of not getting fed.

"You might as well let them eat, Namekseijin," Amara opined. "They're both part Saiyajin. Until they get something to eat, they won't be able to think of anything else but eating. Besides, a small break won't hurt."

"Look Amara, I've made up my mind," Piccolo said. "I think them fusing together as a Super Saiyajin is much more important."

But Amara continued on as if she hadn't just heard Piccolo. "As a matter of fact, I was just about to ask Mr. Popo to direct me to the kitchen. I could use a little break, too." She then glanced over at the djinn. "So, will you?"

"Oh! Why, of course. Follow me," Mr. Popo said, sounding a bit surprised.

He started to walk off toward the palace again, with Amara falling into footstep behind him, though not before calling Goten and Koji to come with her. The two boys had only been too eager to oblige her. All the while, Piccolo observed the scene in disbelief.

"I don't believe this!" Piccolo snarled, clenching his fists in exasperation. "They're going to go stuff themselves while the fate of the world hangs in the balance!"

Kuririn chuckled sympathetically at his friend. "Well, that's a Saiyajin for you."

Though Piccolo huffed in resignation after a moment, he wondered again why he let Goku talk him into doing this.

* * *

_*This has definitely got to be the stupidest thing I've ever done!* _The World Champion, Satan scolded himself silently as he rode in the back of a red aircar, heading towards dangerous territory.

Majin Buu's house.

He cursed his fans mentally for putting him into this situation; sure he was the World Champion, but THAT didn't mean he have to face ever creep that starts wreaking havoc on the planet. Especially a super strong monster that's already almost killed everyone on the planet. In hindsight, though, he knew he had no one to blame for this but himself. He was the one that lied to the world about destroying Cell, and now he was finally receiving divine punishment for it.

_*I'm toast!* _he thought miserably. _*How can I defeat someone who turns people into candy?" _

One of the two guards up front of who was driving the champion-the one in the passenger seat rather- turned to see a troubled look on the Budokai champion's face.

"Is something the matter Mr. Satan?" he asked

The question made Satan start and snapped out of his reverie after hearing the man's voice.

"Oh...uh no, I'm fine," he lied quickly. "I was just thinking up all the hurtin' I was going to to dish out to that Majin Buu freak as soon as I met him face-to-face!"

Mr. Satan then laughed triumphantly, hoping that made him sound more believable.

"That's the World Champion for you," the guard that was driving said admirably. "Always brave in the face of danger. He's not afraid of anything."

The other guard nodded. "Yes, he's not even scared that Buu might hit him with that zappy ray of his. Or being turned into candy! Majin Buu doesn't stand a chance!"

As the guards laughed in agreement, they didn't notice Mr. Satan was no longer laughing or the look of panic across his features after being reminded of what he was up against.

Suddenly, the guard on the passenger side sobered as he spied something up ahead.

"Hey, we've made it!"

Mr. Satan's heart instantly sunk. Gazing pass the two men, he watched in dismay as Buu's house came into view. It was an oddly-designed structure, built completely out of clay. While the car got closer, Satan really began to debate with himself on whether he should keep up the lie that he was Earth's Greatest Hero or to just finally confess that he was nothing more than a fraud so he could at least live a little longer. Unluckily for him, he couldn't reach a decision in time, and the aircar had landed daringly close to Buu's home behind some boulders and came to a stop.

"Okay, we're here!" The driver announced him and the other guard turning toward Mr. Satan at the same time. The World Champion quickly pulled up a mask of false bravery on his face and slammed his right fist against his left palm determinedly.

"Good! Now that Majin Buu's about to find out what happens when he gets the World Champion, Mr. Satan, angry!" Grabbing his duffel bag beside him, he leaped over the side.

"I know that you don't need it, but good luck anyway," the second guard said.

"All right, men, listen up. I was thinking-Hey! Where the hell are going?" Mr. Satan yelled as he turned and watched the guards take off in the car, waving goodbye to him. "Spineless bastards! If I survive this, I'll be sure to remember to have both your cowardly asses fired!"

He sighed exasperatedly. "What else could happen?" he muttered under his breath and when he looked around, wished he hadn't.

"Yoo-hoo!" The champion immediately froze in cold terror when he heard the happy voice with the menacing lilt to it overhead him. Stiffly, he peered up and nearly did a double take when he saw Majin Buu now standing on the roof of his house, grinning wildly.

* * *

Due to the impromptu lunch break, Piccolo had no choice but to wait for the Saiyajin no Oujo and the two half-Saiyajin to finish their snacks before they could resume the training. He did so by sulkily standing near the edge of the courtyard with Dende. Everyone else had found some form of entertainment to pass up the time during the wait. Though, meanwhile, no one noticed as Juuhachi-gou separated from everybody else and headed towards a quieter spot on the back of the courtyard so she could think.

Well, almost nobody...

She found a private corner of the palace and took her a seat near the edge of the Tenkai bowl, letting her long legs hang over the side. For a short time, she just sat there, indifferently watching the clouds roll by lazily beneath her. Abruptly, Juuhachi-gou's eyes dilated when she had paid just a little too much attention to one of the cloud formations. It was shaped like a cluster of spikes, and reminded her a lot of-

Her eyes widened again, this time from recognition of where her mind was going with that last line of thinking. Scowling, she looked away and ruthlessly shoved the idea away...or at least she halfway did, before she realized she was being foolish. Juuhachi-gou's face softened as she swung her gaze back toward the cloud formation. It was still there, and this time when she saw the spikes, she didn't interrupt her thoughts when she found herself imagining that she was looking at her deceased husband.

She still couldn't believe he was really gone. And now that she'd been hit with the realization of that fact, she started to feel as if a part of her had died along with Vegeta. When had she given so much of herself to Vegeta?

But what was a little more difficult to believe was that he actually died wanting to protect her and their son. He had cared about them...he had really cared about them. It sure hadn't seemed that way before all of this mess with Majin Buu had first began. In fact, for the first few years after they had moved out of Capsule Corporation and into the home they lived in now, Vegeta would leave her and Koji and go off to unknown places and would go off for weeks on end, sometimes months on end. However, whenever he did returned he seemed somewhat calmer before he left, as if he'd pacified all his demons wherever he went off to- for a while at least.

To be honest though, it hadn't really bothered her. When she'd first decided to be with Vegeta, she'd already knew not to expect very much from him. During the first two years of Koji's life, he'd barely even glanced in their son's direction. Actually, he hadn't even been there for Koji's birth- in his mind, him training in his Gravity Room had been way more important than witnessing the birth of a life he helped created. And when she'd asked him if he'd wanted to see their son, he'd tartly responded, "He's got arms and legs, doesn't he? So what other reason is there for me to look at him?"

He'd made her so mad when he' said that. But she knew she shouldn't have expected anything less from the Saiyajin no Ouji. Though, strangely enough, it was only when Koji had reached four-years-old, Vegeta had begun to really pay their son any actual attention, when he'd one day out of the blue decided to teach Koji how to fly and use his ki as energy attacks. Her lips quirked wryly for a brief moment as she remembered the first few days after Koji had learned how to fire ki blasts that he started using some of the furniture in the house as target practice. However, she'd always secretly believed that Vegeta had decided to teach their son those things was because he was smug in the fact that although she had been the one to teach him how to fight while he was always gone, he was the one that could show him how to use his ki properly and as well as teach him of his Saiyajin heritage. And Koji had absorbed everything his father had told him like a sponge.

It had amazed her how much her son worshipped the ground his father walked on, even though his father didn't really pay him any attention unless training was involved. She think his rapt fascination of his father had spawned from the time she'd told him that his father was actually the Prince of the Saiyajin. And from then on, Koji could see no wrong in his father.

But then all of this had to go and happen. Everything had been going so well with her and her family before Babidi and his minions came, bringing upon the evil of Majin Buu onto the world.

_*And part of that is my fault,*_ Juuhachi-gou thought bitterly, scowling angrily to herself as she remember how easily she'd allowed herself to fall under Babidi's Soul-Enslaving Curse. She'd known there had been some kind of catch with the deal Babidi had made with her, but she hadn't really cared. All she had cared about was making both Amara and Vegeta pay for what they did to her. Amara for trying to take her life and Vegeta for betraying her. Or so she had thought he had betrayed her.

Then she remembered how Vegeta had told her that she meant absolutely nothing to her when Amara had attacked her back at the stadium. To be honest, if only to herself, his cold words had actually stung her...and then she'd been proven wrong when Vegeta had performed the only selfless act she's known him to do by killing himself just to keep her and Koji alive. And right before he'd died, he'd asked her to forgive him for everything. She couldn't believe he'd said that.

And she couldn't believe she had cried over him.

However, could she actually forgive him for that? Over the years, she'd kept her feelings about what Vegeta had done bottled up inside her all these years, largely because she didn't want to say anything that would distort her son's perfect image of his father. Though, they had finally resurfaced back in the cavern while the two of them had been in battle at the same time, and she'd told him exactly what she'd been trying to hide for all these years.

Though, the question still was: could she forgive him?

Tipping her face back to the sky to think it over, she amazed at how unsurprised she was to discover the answer to that wasn't hard to make at all. A rare open smile curled her lips.

_*Yes, Vegeta. I forgive you...For everything.*_

Juuhachi-gou suddenly rose to her feet. Then, with no change in her expression at all, she said, "Now that you've come out of hiding, why don't you come live with me and my family? We have plenty of room."

Halfway turning, she looked directly at her brother to let him know she had been aware he was there at the same time. If Juunana-gou was surprised, she couldn't tell, in fact, he looked vaguely amused. Without words, he sauntered over to her, stopping beside her.

"I don't know," he answered at last, staring down at the clouds. "I've grown to like being on my own. Plus, I don't know if I could live in the same house as Vegeta."

"Figures that would have something to do with it," Juuhachi-gou replied. "Sure, he can pain at times, but Vegeta's not too bad once you get used to him."

Juunana-gou snorted. "Hmph. That's easy for you to say, you have to put up with him."

Juuhachi-gou blushed momentarily at that statement. "T-that may be true, but...Koji needs to know his uncle!"

Juunana-gou then stared back at his sister, who met his stare firmly. He was about to say something, however, something completely different from what he wanted to say came out.

"If we all make it through this alive, we'll see," he told her.

Realizing that was the best she was going to get out of him for right now, Juuhachi-gou didn't press the issue any further. Although, she felt there was still things they need to talk about.

"So, just exactly where have you been hiding all this time..."

* * *

In the Realm of the Kaioushin, Gohan's battle cries rung so loudly that he could be heard from outside the planet. Under the watchful gazes of Kaioushin and Kibito, he continued his special training. Fortunately, after a few hours of it, the half-Saiyajin had managed to get a hang of the Z-Sword, and without the need to transform to Super Saiyajin. So intent on mastering the heavy blade as quickly as possible, Gohan had even refused to take a break at one point when Kaioushin had offered him the chance.

"Hang in there, Gohan-san," Kaioushin called out encouragingly. "You're doing just great."

"Even though I'm seeing it with my own eyes," Kibito said, "it's still hard to believe that boy has not only freed the Z-Sword, but has also quickly gained mastery in it. Meanwhile, both those things have been unmanagable for so many past Kaioushin-samas."

Kaioushin smiled at his attendant. "There's no use denying it, Kibito-san, I, Kaioushin, have been surpassed by some of the people of the Lower Realm, but I have no problem with that. Otherwise, I would have never gotten to have met someone as extraordinary as Gohan-san, or the other Saiyajin. And with Gohan-san the way he is, I truly believe it in my heart that he will be the one to defeat Majin Buu for good."

Kibito didn't respond.

After stumbling and almost falling again, Gohan managed to regain his footing and slashed at the air a few more times. Just as Gohan swung his sword toward the left...Goku appeared from out of nowhere.

Looking up, Goku let out a cry of shock when he saw the large blade coming towards him. Quickly trying to move out of the way, Goku lost his balance and clumsily fell backwards on his romp, just barely managing to avoid having his head lobbed off.

"D-dad!" Gohan exclaimed, gawping down at his father.

"Goku-san!" Kaioushin said in surprise. Next to him, Kibito was giving the dead warrior a wide-eyed stare, too.

Goku looked up at his oldest son and gave him his signature wild grin.

"Yo, Gohan!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	45. Rou Dai Kaioushin

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ, although I do the original characters in this story are mine. **

**Chapter Forty-Five: Rou Dai Kaioushin**

* * *

After his encounters with the likes of Juuhachi-gou, and that insane man and woman who'd killed all those people at the stadium yesterday, Mr. Satan had thought he'd had his fair share of experiencing sheer terror up close for this week already. However, the fear that those three had inspired in him couldn't even begin to compare to the overwhelming terror Majin Buu was making him feel at that very moment. After all, even though that man and that woman who he'd seen Juuhachi-gou hanging out with had killed a lot of his fans at the tournament, they hadn't brought the planet's population down to a dwindling one-fifth like the formidable monster standing before him had. And something told him that Majin Buu was able to make even Juuhachi-gou and her friends scared.

To make the situation even more unnerving for the World Champion than it already was, Majin Buu leaped off the roof his house, touching down in front of him on the boulders in front of him. Mr. Satan quickly raised his arm holding his duffel bag to shield himself from flying debris. After it was over with, he turned back around to gape up at the simpering demon. Standing so close to the creature that was systematically annihilating everyone and everything on the planet, coupled with his massive form and his towering height, Mr. Satan really wished that he was somewhere else at the moment, like in another solar system.

_*But I can't run away!* _he told himself sternly. *_The people of Earth are counting on me to save them from this monster. If I run away now, then they'll know that it wasn't me who destroyed Cell, and I'll lose all the fame and fortune and fans I've gathered over the years!" _

Surprisingly, the thought of being known in the face of his loyal fans as nothing more than a big liar and a coward was actually scarier than facing down a monster whose idea of fun was world destruction

After gathering the necessary courage to do so, he finally spoke.

"Um, good day Majin Buu-sama! My name is Mr. Satan, World Martial Arts Champion, and I just came all the way out there to... um... tell you that...u-uh, I'm a huge fan of your work! So, put it there pal!" Mr. Satan actually dared to reach out and grab one of Buu's large left hand to shake it.

A look of pure puzzlement crossed the Majin's face. He was used to people screaming and running away as soon as they saw him (or sometimes shout mean words at him), and fight him, not people actually speaking to him in a friendly manner and shaking his hand. Fisting his hand on his hips, Buu tilted his head to the side, curiously studying the strange man standing before him, wondering what he was up to.

As Majin Buu stared at him long and hard, Mr. Satan began to sweat profusely from nervousness. He hoped Majin Buu wouldn't figure out his true intentions. Because if he had, not only would it ruin the element of surprise he'd planned on using to defeat the pudgy demon with, but it would also give Buu the incentive to go ahead and kill him. And the World Champion planned on staying alive for a very long time.

At last, Majin Buu's expression cleared, and that infantile smile of his returned.

"Ah, I get it now!" he said in a sudden realization, the rather ominous announcement making Mr. Satan stiffen anxiously in place. "You want me to kill you, right?"

"WHAT! N-no, that's not it! Honestly!" protested loudly. He started waving his hands in placating motions when Majin Buu suddenly raised a hand out towards him.

"Now, then, what should I do with you?" the demon half-asked himself and and half-asked his latest prey. "Should I punch your head off like Babidi? Or blast you to pieces?"

Those were two choices that Mr. Satan to be completely unfavorable toward him staying alive any way it went.

"Oh! I got it! I turn you into food!" Majin Buu decided at last. Mr. Satan's eyes tripled its normal size at the mention of being turning into one of the beast's edible treats. "So, what should I turn you into? A plum...biscuit…gummi?" The possibilities seemed endless to the pink creature as he thought of what the human's fate would be.

_*This Majin Buu is one sick freak!*_ Mr. Satan mused, horrified. *_He's actually going to try and eat me just he did all those people. I've got to do something stall him off quickly, or I'm a goner!*  
_  
"_Iie_! _Chotto_-hey you don't want to eat me!" Mr. Satan exclaimed. "Especially, since I come, um...bearing presents! That's right, I brought presents for you!"

Surprise twisted Majin Buu's malicious, childly expression at what his supposed latest victim said to him. "You brought me presents?"

"Yeah! Let me pull them out of my bag for you," Mr. Satan offered. He took the duffel bag he'd been carrying off his shoulder and placed it on the ground, though he did so while facing the other direction so Buu couldn't see what he had really had inside. Opening it up, Mr. Satan reached inside and fished around for one of Majin Buu's 'gifts', which were actually things meant to ensure Majin Buu's complete destruction rather than to entertain him. Finally, he pulled out a dark-red, rectangular box.

"What's this?" Buu inquired, inspecting the strange box curiously.

"Why, it's chocolate candy, of course!" Mr. Satan explained, removing the lid off the box and showing the Majin Buu the tasty-looking candy inside. Though, secretly he was saying, "Posion candy more like it. I've packed enough cyanide in these babies strong enough to kill off several packs of tyrannosaurs. Once Majin Buu takes a bite of one of these babies...he's history! And when that happens, I'll be hero to the whole planet again!"

However, things didn't really go the way the champion planned, when Majin Buu surprisingly glared down at the candy.

"No! I don't want it!" he said, looking like a petulant child with his arms crossed and his face twisted in a pout.

Mr. Satan's face fell at Buu's words. "What? But I thought you liked candy?" he asked, confused.

"That candy's nothing special!" the pudgy demon informed him stubbornly. "I only eat candy made from people like you!"

The champion froze solidly in place at the comment. Thinking fast, Mr. Satan said, "But Majin Buu, this kind of candy way better than the candy made from people! Just see for yourself!"

For a moment, it looked as if Majin Buu would continue to refuse the martial artist's offer. However, with any kind of food around, Majin Buu couldn't hold out forever, as he soon reached out and picked up one of the chocolates, putting it in his mouth- much to the secret delight of Mr. Satan. Unfortunately for the World Champion, instead of Buu falling over and dying a horrid death for unknowingly eating poisonous candy, he picked up another candy and ate it after realizing that the chocolates the funny-looking man had brought him were actually delicious. Mr. Satan gawked at him in shock.

"Mmmm! This actually better than human-choco!" Buu decided. Then, with a shocking display of politeness, he picked up one and held it out to Satan in offering. "You want some?"

"N-no!" Mr. Satan said quickly, with Majin Buu seeming not to have cared that he'd said that just a little bit too quickly. "I'm still full from the lunch I had before coming here. You finish it all up, buddy."

"'Kay!" Majin Buu agreed without a second thought. Then he started to work on the remaining candy, which really didn't take him very long to finish off. When Majin Buu had tossed the now empty box thoughtlessly over his shoulder, Mr. Satan did a double-take.

"I-I don't believe it," he muttered in stupor. "He actually ate all those cyanide-filled chocolates and is still alive. What kind of punk is this?"

"Thanks for the candy," Majin Buu said, looking directly at Mr. Satan again. "Now, I kill you!" he added, raising his right hand in a sinister manner.

Mr. Satan tensed momentarily with fear, but quickly thought his way out of this situation. "No, wait Buu! You can't just kill me yet, you know? I still have more presents to give to you!"

"More gifts?" Majin Buu repeated, looking more interested at the prospect of getting more gifts like the last one than killing someone for a change.

"Wait one second," Mr. Satan said as he turned back around to get another 'present' for Majin Buu. He sure hoped whatever he chose didn't end up a complete failure like the last one. His blue eyes soon fell on a particular object laying in the bag and it brought a evil grin to his face as he scooped it up._ *Ha! I know for certain this baby won't fail to destroy Majin Buu! Tubby's going down now!*_ he thought while spinning back around to show the Majin what else he'd gotten for him.

"What's that?" Majin Buu asked, staring down at the strange contraption Mr. Satan now held in his hand in puzzlement. It was silver in color, longer than the length of Mr. Satan's hand, decorated with a small flat screen and several buttons.

"Oh, this thing is called a Game Boy," Mr. Satan explained, "and you play it like this." For the next minute or two, Mr. Satan spent it teaching Majin Buu the basics of how to control his video avatars and leading them to victory. When Mr. Satan finally thought Buu was ready, he handed the Game Boy over to the demon and let him have a crack at it. Due to him being so engrossed into the game, Majin Buu didn't notice that Mr. Satan had put some distance between them, and was now hunched over with his index fingers plugging his ears and his eyes were screwed tight

The reason he placed so much faith in Buu's latest 'gift' being the thing to take the evil creature out, was because he'd planted a high-powered explosive inside it. Being a world-wide hero sure had its perks! He had set the bomb to go off once Majin Buu won a game, and now the World Champion was waiting for said victory in silent anticipation. Sadly, things didn't go the way he'd planned once more. It was largely due to Majin Buu not being very good at the game he was playing, and soon his pummelled avatar had been beaten and fell motionless to the ground to the escort of doom-filled music. Meanwhile his opponent was raising his fists into the air.

Majin Buu fumed at his lost.

"This game hard!" Buu steamed, literally, as tendrils of smoke whistled out of the holes on his head.

Overhearing the whole thing, the world champion actually felt sorry for Buu and decided to help him. Especially if it would help Buu to not go on any rampage.

"Here, Buu, let me put this on easy mode, okay?" the Budokai champion offered. He took the Game Boy out of Buu's hand, quickly placed the settings on the game to easy for Majin Buu and handed it back to the djinn. He hastily regrouped to a safe distance.

Majin Buu smiled happily as he was doing a lot better than he was last time. Just as he was about to finish, the screen flashed suddenly, and-

KAAABOOOMMM!

Mr. Satan turned his body halfway around when the bomb he'd planted inside the Gameboy went off. Mr. Satan looked around and grinned triumphantly when he saw the field of smoke hovering where Majin Buu once stood.

"Yosh'! It worked like a charm! Yatta! I actually did it! I actually destroyed the supposedly invincible Majin Buu!" The World Champion cackled, as he couldn't wait to rub this into everyone's face that it was HE and HE alone who took down the wicked pink creature. He'd unconsciously looked back over to watch the smoke diminish and see Majin Buu was actually gone. He did see the smoke ebb away, however the part with Majin Buu was gone didn't come.

Mr. Satan's eyes doubled in size momentarily when he saw Majin Buu reappear with a huge grin on his face.

"That was fun!" the demon declared.

"B-b-b-b-b-but-" the Budokai champion spluttered, his mind couldn't seem to reel around the shock of his plan not working against the diabolical monster.

"Ahahaha! You funny, I like you! You can be my servant!" Majin Buu laughed, clapping Mr. Satan on the shoulder. Even though he didn't touch him with his full strength or even his half-strength, he still knocked the human face-first onto the ground. The Budokai champion groaned as he slowly lifted himself off the ground, shaking the clods of dirt out of his bushy, black hair.

"C'mon in!" Before Mr. Satan could decline the offer, he was dragged inside the house.

As that was happening, Mr. Satan thought to himself: *_What in the hell have I forgotten myself into now?*_

* * *

"Hey, watch this, Gohan!" Goku called to his son, wanting Gohan to see him as he started twirling the Z-Sword around in a very impressive manner.

"Keep it up, Dad! You're doing great!" Gohan called back, amazed at his father as usual. Beside him, Kaioushin watched with an impressed look on his face, while Kibito observed in openmouthed disbelief.

After a few more minutes of slicing at imaginary opponents, Goku finally brought the Z-Sword to a halt. He rested the fabled weapon against his shoulder and stared at it admirably, watching as the sunlight showered down on the sword's blade, making it glisten prettily.

"Wow! The Z-Sword sure is a beauty," he said, though not seeming to care if any of the others had heard him or not.

At that moment, Gohan left Kaioushin and Kibito and walked over to where his father was. Sensing his son coming, Goku took his eyes off the sword and smiled at his approaching son.

"This is a very a very impressive sword you have here, son," he commented. "I'm almost jealous that I don't have one like it!"

Gohan laughed a bit. "Well, I'm almost jealous that you were able to handle the Z-Sword a lot quicker and easier than I had. It took me a while just to get the hang of its excessive weight. Though, I'm not surprised that you were able to manage it, Dad," he said, his compliment making Goku preen a bit. "So, mind telling me your secret?"

"Well, there's actually nothing to it, really," Goku answered, laughing. "All you really have to do is just put your weight into it."

"Oh!" Gohan said comprehendingly.

"Say, Gohan, why don't show me some more of your moves with the sword?" Goku suddenly suggested. Gohan's expression brightened at the suggestion.

"Sure!"

Giving Gohan the Z-Sword back, Goku backed away at a sensible distance, and watched the perfomance Gohan put on with his sword. Almost instantly, Gohan was overtaken by the thrill of wielding one of the most powerful weapons ever constructed in the universe. The sword he'd been having problems holding a day ago was now being swung with complete ease by the half-Saiyajin; the gleaming blade moved in swift, deadly arcs, slicing and parrying against unseen foes. All the while, Goku watched the whole thing in the same amazement his son had watched him in earlier.

Gohan's sword show was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone clapping at him in approval, causing the teenager to snap out of the feverish daze he'd been put into while showing off to his father. He and Goku then looked up to see Kaioushin and Kibito walking towards them, with the former still clapping his hands.

"Superb performance, Gohan!" Kaioushin commented, when he and Kibito had gotten into talking range. "It's astounding that you have managed to operate the Z Sword with such mastery so soon! But I was thinking that now we should truly put the Z-Sword to the test, and see if its as strong as the legends says."

"What do you mean?" Goku and Gohan asked at the same time, equally curious as to what the deity was getting at.

Instead of replying with words, Kaioushin raised his right index finger to the sky. Everybody stared up into the sky to see what the deity was about to do. Over them all, pale light flashed over them in the form of a large tiled square; in the next instant, the strange construction solidified, transforming into a large block with a silver metallic sheen to it. Goku and Gohan blinked in awe at this. Kibito only smirked as he realized what his lord was up to now.

"Catch!" Kaioushin called toward the father and son. Then, with his mind, he maneuvered the strange object through the air and towards Gohan and Goku.

Hastily, Goku reached out to catch the whatever-it-is that Kaioushin had just thrown at them. When he caught it he nearly toppled over, but somehow managed to keep his balance. The thing was very heavy.

"What is this THING!" Goku exclaimed in amazement. "It must weigh over a 100 tons or somethin'!"

"That is _katcheen_- that's the strongest known metal in the universe," Kaioushin explained.. "As I've said, I wanted to put Gohan through his paces with the Z-Sword and see what it's truly capable of. If the sword can slice through the katcheen, then it's a given that it can destroy Buu."

"Yosh'!" Gohan said, determination crossing his face and making him resembling his father as he took a striking pose with the sword. In the meantime, Goku had walked a reasonable distance away so he could have room to throw the katcheen at his son.

"Are you ready son?" Goku called.

"Hai!" Gohan responded.

On his son's word, Goku pitched the katcheen forward with all his might. The metal sailed through the air with surprising quickness for its dense weight, but Gohan was prepared for it, poised in a pose with his sword, his face twisted in absolute resolution. At least, Gohan had thought he was prepared for the _katcheen_. As soon as the metal came into close range, Gohan swiftly lashed out with the Z-Sword, striking the blade in the katcheen's side. For a brief moment, Gohan and the katcheen jockeyed for position...and then upper half of the Z-Sword's blade chipped neatly off.

"OH NO!" Kaioushin and Kibito screamed in unison, their eyes growing saucer-wide from shock, watching as both halves of the sword flew from Gohan's hand and landed on the ground in different directions.

"Whoa!" Goku commented, blinking in surprise down at the broken weapon. "No wonder that thing's called the katcheen!"

"Ah, man!" Gohan groaned, staring down at the broken Z-Sword in distress. And after all it had took for him to free it from that stone earlier... "I can't use this thing to defeat Majin Buu now! It's more like the Z-Daggers than the Z-Sword now!"

Gohan looked up when he heard his father, Kaioushin, and Kibito approaching him, with all three wearing various expressions on their faces. While his father seemed to be unsurprisingly taking what had just happened in stride, Kaioushin was starting to grow very pale (paler than usual that was), while Kibito looked as if he would blow a blood vessel as he looked very annoyed right now.

"Are you okay, Gohan?" Goku asked, feeling concerned when he caught his son's forlorn expression.

"I'm fine, Tousan," Gohan sighed. "But the Z-Sword sure isn't!"

Goku clapped a comforting hand on his despondent son. "Hey, don't worry about it. It was only just a sword."

"Only just a sword!" Kibito snapped, unable to hold his tongue any longer. "That weapon was more than just any sword! It was the Z-Sword, one of the most powerful weapons ever in the universe! And now its destroyed...as well as our last chance at ridding the universe of Majin Buu once and for all!"

"I'm sorry," Gohan said. "But hey, maybe Dad had a point. Just by training with the sword all this time, I already feel a lot stronger than ever."

"Of course!" Kaioushin said with a sudden realization. "And if your strength has increased in your base form, you increase even more when you turn Super Saiyajin!"

Gohan nodded enthusiastically. Goku didn't look too certain of that, however.

"I don't know. He still isn't strong enough to defeat Majin Buu," he remarked.

"You're wrong..." a new voice laughed.

Everyone turned toward the source of the unfamiliar speaker in equal surprise. They were further so when they saw nobody in the direction the voice had originated from, other than the lower piece of the now broken Z-Sword. No, wait, something was there. At the very uneven tip of the broken blade, something faintly glinted in the afternoon sunlight, emitting gently rippling waves that tousled the grass in its path. Then, where no one else had been standing a second ago, seemingly out of thin air, someone did appear.

Kaioushin, his follower, and his two guests gasped and gawked at the new person. One could immediately get the idea that this unrecognizable figure was related to Kaioushin as the new arrival was dressed in the exact clothes and jewellery as Kaioushin was, nearly the same height, and even had lavender skin and white hair...even in spite of the fact that the new person's skin was wrinkly and the only hair he had was a small group of white strands sitting erect atop of his head. The aged being smiled in amusement at the four people goggling at him.

"Where did he come from?" Goku asked.

"W-who are you?" Kaioushin asked, though something inside him was saying that he should know this person.

"The truth is, I am...the Kaioushin from 15 generations back," the newcomer explained. "You can call me Rou Kaioushin."

"What?" East Kaioushin squawked in shock. "You're the Kaioushin from 15 generations back?"

"K-Kaioushin-sama!" Kibito shouted.

"That's right," Rou Kaioushin said, still smiling. "Back during my time, there was this incredibly evil guy, although he's probably not as fearsome as Buu. He sealed me into that sword. He did that because he was so terrified of me. But that's in the past...I'm free! I'm finally free at last!"

"So, you know about our situation with Majin Buu, honorable forefather?" Kaioushin asked solemnly.

"Mm-hmm," Rou Kaioushin responded just as seriously. All the amusement was gone from his wizened face now. "This Majin Buu character is a very ferocious monster. Even now, I can feel his horrible power."

"Believe me, Elder. I know exactly what you mean," Kaioushin said grimly. "We had made measures to use the Z-Sword against Majin Buu, which was why we brought Gohan here."

Rou Kaioushin glanced over at the half-Saiyajin teenager, as his descendant gestured in his direction. His eyes then returned back to Kaioushin, disdain returning to his eyes as he did so. "So, that explains why a couple a humans are here in the Kaioushin Realm. In my day, it was strictly forbidden to allow just anyone to set foot on our sacred world!"

Kaioushin flushed hotly at the silent accusation his elder threw at him.

"But I had no other choice!" he said defensively. "Earth and the whole universe is danger. And I needed to bring Gohan here to-"

"Anyway," Rou Kaioushin interrupted his descendant, dismissing him. As he turned his attention to Gohan, he missed the younger Kaioushin's shoulders slumping in dejection. "Now to you, young man. Since the Z- Sword is completely demolished, you apparently are going to need to find a new method to defeating Majin Buu. Fortunately for you, though, I know of such a method."

"You do? Tell me!" Gohan wanted to know. All around him, his father and Kaioushin and Kibito looked interested by whatever idea Rou Kaioushin was cooking up.

"Remember when I told you that I was sealed up inside the Z-Sword because my enemy feared my powers?" Rou Kaioushin asked. Gohan and everyone else nodded. "Well, the reason they feared my powers was because of my extraordinary ability to bring out a person's latent strength. And from the feel of things kid, you got a _lot _of it hidden inside you."

"Wow! You can really do that?" Goku asked, sounding impressed. "Normally it takes Gohan-kun to get really upset before his sleeping powers can work."

"Of course I can! A Kaioushin can do anything!" the wizened god said primly. "By the time I'm through with your son, he'll be able to use his dormant powers as easily as it is for him to breathe."

"So, how are you going to awaken my sleeping powers?" Gohan inquired.

"I'll awaken your sleeping powers through the art of ancient ritual the Kaioushins back in my time used to practice. However, it will take a total of five hours."

"That's fine with me," Gohan said, with a slight shrug.

"Plus twenty more hours," Rou Kaioushin added.

Gohan's face fell a bit at the announcement. But he said, "Look, as long as the ritual can help bring out my sleeping powers, I can endure the wait."

"That's good to hear," Rou Kaioushin said in approval. "But..."

"But what?"

"It'll cost you."

"Cost me?" Gohan queried, raising an eyebrow at the elder Kaioushin-sama. "What?" .

Rou Kaioushin drew a fist up to his mouth and coughed. "Well, you see in order for me to awake your power, you must...give me something in return. Something that will make me very happy, y'know."

"Yeah, well what do you want?" Goku questioned, confused.

"That's something you'll have to figure out," Rou Kaioushin said, and Goku fell on his face as he had no unearthly idea of what the old Kaioushin wished of.

Goku looked thoughtfully towards Rou Kaioushin and for a brief moment he thought he saw Muten Roshi and that's when a sudden thought came to him.

"Ohhhh, I got it! I bet I know exactly what you want," he said. He walked up him, wearing a lop-sided grin on his face.

"You do?"

"Sure do," Goku answered, looking both very confident and very uncharacteristically sly. "You like dirty magazines, right?"

"That's ludicrous!" Kaioushin said hotly. "He's a Kaioushin, Goku-san! He wouldn't want such things!"

"The boy's right," Rou Kaioushin answered.

"You see?" East Kaioushin asked.

"Why would I want to look at dirty magazines when I have my godly eyes that lets me see chicks taking showers and changing clothes from great distances?"

Both East Kaioushin and Kibito hit the ground.

Goku considered that. Then another idea came to him.

"Well, then how would you like to touch a real woman's boobs and behind?" he offered in the elder god's ear. To say Rou Kaioushin was interested would've been a understatement.

"Really! You wouldn't be lying to me, would ya'?" he asked.

"Don't worry, it'll be good!" Goku assured him.

Overhearing the conversation, Gohan asked his father, "Dad, just what are you planning?"

Turning to his son, he abruptly asked, "Well, Videl's pretty. Gohan, you wouldn't mind if Rou Kaioushin touches her chest and behind?" Goku asked, and in answer Gohan's face turned a bright shade of red fury.

"Are you crazy? I'd let Majin Buu kill me for real before I allow that old man to touch MY girlfriend!" Gohan yelled at his father. But when he'd calmed back down, his eyes widened in surprise and he blushed, as that was the first time he'd ever acknowledged the daughter of the World Champion as his girlfriend.

"Well, do you like them older?" Goku asked suddenly, another prospect already in his mind.

"As long as she's sexy, I don't care," Rou Kaioushin answered.

"Okay, then. We'll use Bulma!" Goku decided. Turning back to Gohan, he said, "Hey, when you go back to the Lower World, you can tell Bulma about this."

"You want me...to ask Bulma to do that!" Gohan squawked in disbelief. "She's a married woman! And isn't that sexual harassment?"

Ignoring him, Goku asked Rou Kaioushin, "Now are you sure you can make Gohan strong enough to beat Majin Buu?"

"It's not definite, but I he'll have a pretty good chance."

"Okay, then, it's settled!" Goku told his son as he turned back to him. "All you have to do is explain the situation to Bulma, and she'll understand."

"I can't believe you want me to ask Bulma this," Gohan said. The teenager shook his head. "Even if that old guy can save the universe from Buu, I'm still dead!"

Whether Goku had heard all of that or not, it didn't seem to make any difference, as he turned around to an eager Rou Kaioushin, who looked so excited at the moment that he was about to explode.

"Okay, let's do it!" Goku enthused.

Rou Kaioushin grabbed Goku's hand and shook it, grinning wildly. "It's a deal, pal!"

"Humph. And he thinks I'm disgraceful," East Kaioushin muttered.

Beside him, Kibito shook his head in disbelief at the current Kaioushin's forefather.

* * *

Elsewhere, everyone was once again gathered around the front of God's Palace, as the next stage in the Fusion training was about to commence.

"All right! We're about to begin!" Piccolo announced. "It's Super Saiyajin Fusion!"

"Right!" Goten and Koji said together, nodding.

While they didn't say anything, one look at either Amara or Juuhachi-gou would tell a person that the two of them were undeniably just as ready as the boys were.

"You two!" Piccolo said, looking directly at the young half-Saiyajin. "If this Fusion is successful, do not get carried away like you did last time! Surely you know just how strong Majin Buu is now?"

Both Koji and Goten laughed sheepishly.

"We know!" Goten told him.

"Can we get on with this already?" Amara asked impatiently, scowling.

"Fine," Piccolo said. "All right. Do it!"

One by one, Amara, Koji, and Goten transformed to Super Saiyajin. Just as they had been taught, Koji and Goten perfectly matched each other's ki.

"Okay, boys, your ki are utterly the same," Piccolo remarked. "Begin the Fusion!"

Right away, the boys lined themselves up beside one another. Doing the Fusion dance in perfect coordination, the half-Saiyajins then screamed in unison, "FUUU-SSSIOON...HAAAAA!"

Piccolo and the others closed their eyes as the blinding light resurfaced over the Tenka bowl once more. When the brilliant radiance had died at last several moments later everyone was able to see again and when they looked up ahead they saw Gotenji standing where the children stood. His hair was gold-white, and his eyes were a menacing turquoise as his aura made him burn in accord with the sun.

"A-awesome! His ki is even more stupendous than before!" Yamucha enthused.

"Yeah! It's a complete success!" Kuririn said.

"Sugoi!" Hoshi said in amazement.

"Excellent job, boys!" Piccolo commended. Turning to Amara and Juuhachi-gou, he said, "Your turn!"

Exchanging serious looks, both Juuhachi-gou and Amara nodded to each other. Closing their eyes, auras immediately engulfed them both together. Their minds completely linked, the two slid toward one another until they were overlapping each other...And then there was another explosion of brilliant light, forcing everyone (save for Gotenji) to cover their eyes. When the light had become tolerable for them to see again, the others looked up and found themselves slipping into astonishment again. Occupying the space Juuhachi-gou and Amara just had seconds ago was Juumara, but she was also a Super Saiyajin.

There were more gasps and stares of amazement.

"Wow! Juumara's ki is phenomenal as well!" Master Roshi remarked.

"Another successful product, all right!" Kuririn agreed. "Man, with these two so powered-up, Majin Buu is finished!"

"Yes, both your ki is something incredible," Piccolo said, approaching the Super Saiyajin hybrids. "But what about your movements? How about showing us a bit of what you can do."

Gotenji chuckled and shook a finger at her and everyone else. "_Gomen_, _demo_ I can't wait any longer," said the fused combatant. "Plus, now that I'm a Super Saiyajin, Buu is definitely no match against me! See you later!" Lifting into the air, Gotenji shot off like a speeding rocket, leaving more turbulence then it did last time.

"That damn brat!" Juumara snarled. With no other choice, she leaped into the air after her son-nephew.

"Both of you! Come back here, NOW!" Piccolo bellowed, rocketing away after the two.

The others blinked dumbfounded as they watched the three disappear into the horizon.

"He's really got to work on his arrogance," Kuririn chided, shaking his head.

From an outside view of Earth, you could see two streamers of light making long, several tracks over the blue world as a mother and Namekseijin were chasing a supercilious boy. Juumara scowled as she right behind Gotenji, they'd already flown across the world six times, and he probably wanted to make it seven.

_"Not if I have anything to do it with," _she thought irritably._  
_  
Gotenji skidded to an abrupt as his mother appeared in front of him. And she didn't look too please with their actions like last time.

"Something wrong?" he greeted with a shaky laugh.

Juumara only scowled at him. With the combined speed of a Saiyajin and Jinzouningen, she reached out and grasped a hold of her son-nephew's ear.

"Ittaiiiiiiiiiii!" Gotenji squealed.

"What is wrong with you?" she shouted at him. "We have a monster out there to destroy and here you are messing around!" she then dropped him hard on the ground.

"Kaasan, what's your problem?" he demanded while sitting up, wincing as he touched his sore ear. "All I want is to save the world from Buu, and you keep stopping me!"

"But you're NOT ready to take on Majin Buu! Have you forgotten what happened last time you tried to take him on?"

"Nope!" the boy pouted, folding his arms.

"Listen, Gotenji, I know you want to save everyone from Buu, but if you keep doing what you doing then you'll end up like your brother and your fathers," Juumara told him frankly, her arms akimbo. "You can't just fight with displaying speed without power and control without training. If you do, you will die. Got it!"

"Yes," he muttered sullenly.

The two turned when they heard the sound of bukujustu approaching them they watched as Piccolo landed in front of them. The Namekseijin hunched over as he gasped and sobbed for breath.

"Oh, so the slowpoke finally decided to show up," Gotenji teased, turning his nose up at his mentor. "You're really slow, Piccolo, you know that? Mom and I have already flown over the world six times."

Piccolo bared his teeth as he grumbled, "Baka! You've really done it this time, now I'm goin-" The Namekseijin didn't have enough time to chastise Gotenji when the boy rocketed into the air. "Oi, come back here!" he bellowed after him, shaking his fist, after a moment when he saw he wasn't getting anywhere with him, he huffed in resignation.

Juumara laughed, and Piccolo looked over at her in irritation.

"He'll never land the first blow," she said.

"And what do you mean by that?" Piccolo asked.

"Because our time is almost up again."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	46. A Turn For the Worse

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ, although I do the original characters in this story are mine. **

**Chapter Forty-Six: A Turn For The Worse**

* * *

It was remarkable to Mr. Satan how things could change so quickly. Just earlier this week, he'd been on top of the world, known as the most renowned martial artist, and as well as the man who defeated Cell (at least, that's what a majority of the people on the planet had been made to believe for seven years). But now look at him. He'd been reduced to becoming the slave to the very creature that was quite determined in exterminating all life on the planet.

After Majin Buu had quite clearly told him that he was to be his servant, he'd left a short while later, telling him that he was off to kill even more people. The World Champion was still fuming hotly at how casual Majin Buu had said that to him; he made going out to take someone's life sound like he was going to go out for a walk or going to an amusement park. To make him even madder, the Majin had even had the gall to ask him if he wanted to come along and help him take the lives of even more people. As if he would do that to any of his loyal fans!

He was so glad that none of them could see him now. They were all counting on him to stop Majin Buu and save them, and if they were to discover that not only couldn't he defeat Majin Buu, but was also out here fraternizing with Public Enemy #1, he'd lose all their respect and all the faith they'd placed in him. As much he loved all his celebrity, and as well as the millions and millions of cash that had come along with it, sometimes he really wished he never told that lie about him destroying Cell in the first place

_*Maybe if I had superpowers like Juuhachi-gou and those three kids and those other people she hangs around with, I might've been able to hurt Majin Buu,*_ he thought wistfully, as he stared thoughtfully out the transom over the kitchen sink and toward the wide blue sky outside.

Like everyone else had, Mr. Satan had witnessed the fight between Majin Buu and Goku earlier, and he'd been rather disappointed that the latter didn't win. After all, it had been one of those Gold Warriors who'd really destroyed Cell, and not him. Why couldn't that Gold Warrior do the same to Buu? And why weren't he and his friends out there trying to stop Majin Buu right now?

_*Maybe they just aren't strong enough,*_ Mr. Satan thought grimly. *_And if a bunch a superpowered people can't defeat that evil monster, then what chance do I really have a beating Majin Buu? Probably, nobody can beat him...*_

A cold shudder went through the World Champion, as he suddenly envisioned himself being entrapped in the same predicament he was in now forever. Well, at least until Majin Buu eventually grew tired of him and killed him off. Or until he'd finally been driven to commit suicide just to be free of Buu. He also imagined himself being the only human being left alive on a huge planet, with a almost just as huge monster, while everybody else would be dead. Even his precious daughter. He hoped she was all right and safe wherever she was right now.

Mr. Satan abruptly shook himself. He was starting to become a worrying pessimist, and that was just unlike him. So, to take his mind off his direful predicament, he reached into his pocket, looking for something that he knew would bring a huge smile to his face. A moment later, he pulled his hand out of his pocket, clutching a photograph in his hand. The contents on the picture brought a big simper to his face just as he thought it would, splitting his countenance in half. On the photo, it showed Majin Buu lying prone on the ground, seeming to anyone who saw the picture that Buu was dead, and standing atop of him was Mr. Satan, his fists raised victoriously in the air and his mouth stretched in a fierce grin of triumph.

He chuckled at the picture. A while ago, he had managed to trick the naive monster into taking this picture with him. It had been meant for him to show all his fans, once he'd gotten free of Majin Buu that is. However, it now appeared that doing it had been pointless, as there seemed to be no way to escape Majin Buu, and trying to do so would surely guarantee his own death. During Buu's rampage with Babidi, Satan had seen the Majin kill countless of people for the sheer fun of it, he would hate to see Buu kill someone who he thought betrayed him. Especially when that someone was him.

With a wistful sigh, Mr. Satan deposited the picture back into his pocket, wishing to himself that everything that was happening was nothing more than just one big dream. In the next instant, a loud whistling noise cut through the silence in the house, scaring Mr. Satan and making him jump 10-feet high into the air from surprise and panic. For a brief moment, he'd thought that Majin Buu had finally returned. However, it was only when he'd bolstered up enough courage to look in the direction the sound was emanating from...that he realized that it was only just pot of macaroni and cheese he'd put on the stove a little while ago was steaming. He'd been so irritated with Majin Buu, that he'd practically forgotten about the macaroni. Right before he left, Majin Buu had specifically given him a order to have some made for him before he returned. He grabbed a rag and wrapped it around the tip of the lid to pick it up, water instantly boiling to the top. Mr. Satan turned the stove eye down some, and after a time, the water came back down to normal. Satan took a spoon and started stirring the macaroni.

"Ah, macaroni..." Mr. Satan sighed as he took a sniff, loving the aroma. "You know nothing goes better with macaroni than..." as he let his sentence hang in midair, Mr. Satan's face suddenly turned positively malicious. "DYNAMITE!" He started guffawing like a maniac, as he produced two dynamites out of his gym bag, and dumped it into the pot of macaroni.

"Heh, heh! Oh, you'll have your macaroni and cheese, Majin Buu," he said, grinning crookedly. "In fact, once you taste it, you're going to get a real big _bang_ out of it!"

Mr. Satan started guffawing with laughter as he imagined Majin Buu sitting down at the table, getting ready to eat the macaroni his first friend had fixed for him, and just as he's about to take a bite...KAABOOM! The dynamite finally goes off and Buu explodes into a million pieces, making him become the man who defeated Majin Buu and saved the world from destruction yet again...

"I'm back!" called an all-too familiar voice, disrupting Mr. Satan's imaginary moment of glory.

For a brief, horrified moment, Mr. Satan froze in place at the chilling sound of Buu's voice. He was a back a lot sooner from his excursion than the martial artist had thought he would be. Just why was he back so early? Then Mr. Satan soon thought the better of keeping someone like Majin Buu waiting for so long and went outside to greet his master.

"Everything okay, Buu?" he asked just as soon as he stepped outside. However, upon seeing the Majin, Mr. Satan noticed something was off about him right away. The usual look of child-like satisfaction was absent from his face, which Mr. Satan found very odd. He actually seemed more confused at the moment than anything else. The World Champion then noticed Majin Buu hadn't raised his eyes when he'd spoken him, largely because he was staring down thoughtfully at something. Looking downward, it was then that Mr. Satan had finally become aware that Buu was holding something, a shivering bundle of gray fur with bruises on it. He was even more surprising when he realized that it was a puppy Buu was holding, and it looked to be injured.

But what would Majin Buu be doing with a wounded puppy?

When no forthcoming answer came to him, he just asked, "Hey, where did you get that dog, Buu-sama?"

"When I attack city, I found little doggie, but he wouldn't run away from me," Buu replied. "Why dog not run from me? Everyone runs from me. And no matter how much I listen, I can't understand what it's saying."

Mr. Satan tried to pointedly ignore how Majin Buu sounded just like a confused little child just then. He then said, "That's because he's hurt, Buu-san. He can't run from you, because his leg is injured." As he explained that, he reached out and took the puppy from the baffled demon's hands. The puppy whimpered a bit in pain as he curled up against the Budokai champion.

"Hurt?" Majin Buu repeated, still looking very puzzled. As he looked back down at the small dog, watching it whimper and twitch in pain, wonder of some kind replaced the confusion on his expression as this whole scene reminded him of that little blind human boy he made able to see again once. He knew what to do!

When Majin Buu raised his a hand out toward the bruised, helpless puppy, Mr. Satan's heart seized as for a scary second he thought Buu was actually going to kill the defenseless little animal. But then to his utter amazement, when Buu did fire an energy beam at the pup, it didn't kill the puppy. In fact, the beam was making all the bruises that had been inflicted upon the pup vanish as if the puppy had never had any in the first place. Majin Buu soon lowered his arm, making the beam go away, and when it did, Mr. Satan was very surprised to see the puppy sit up straight in his arms, looking very healthy and strong rather than the pathetic heap of fur it had been just a few seconds ago.

Dumbstricken, Mr. Satan lowered the pup to the ground and allowed it to stand on its own four feet. Momentarily, the puppy looked curiously from Mr. Satan to Majin Buu, and back again. Then, it took a few experimental steps forward, as if trying to make sure it was really okay for him to be walking again. He must've realized it for in the next moment, the puppy wagged his tail wildly as he barked happily up at Majin Buu.

Majin Buu was even more nonplussed as the puppy started circling him "You're healed now," he told it. "Run now, so I can kill you!"

However, his demand was denied as the puppy continued running around him.

Very mystified about now why the puppy wouldn't run away even after he'd healed it, and not all-too familiar with animals in the first place, Majin Buu looked at Mr. Satan almost pleadingly.

"Why want puppy-dog run away?" Majin Buu asked, sounding helpless.

In spite of his ill feelings toward Majin Buu, Mr. Satan couldn't help put smile at how childlike Buu looked like and sounded.

"He won't run away because he's grateful for you healing him, Buu-san," he explained, he laughed. "Now I think he wants to play with you." .

Majin Buu became even more confused as he looked down at the puppy who continued to stare at him with playful eyes. Suddenly, a thought came to monster as he started to run, not at his usual super velocity, but at a very slow pace as the puppy began chasing him. Soon Majin Buu was giggling as he found this to be very fun as he ran in circles, the puppy chasing him at every turn he made, until Buu finally decided to let the puppy catch him.

"This makes me kind of happy," Buu admitted, as he bent down near the puppy and let him lick his face.

Buu and the puppy simultaneously swung their gazes to the left when they heard Mr. Satan clear his throat.

"Sorry to interrupt your little fun time together, but I...uh, have to go to market to pick up some stuff. I'll even buy some dog food for your little friend there."

"Dog food?" Majin Buu repeated. "What's that?"

"Huh? Oh, its food especially made for dogs," Mr. Satan answered. "I'm gone now, but I'll be back shortly."

He then pulled out a Hoi Poi capsule and flung it onto the ground, a bicycle appearing after the puff of smoke cleared. Mr. Satan hopped on and rode off. He had gotten far before he finally stopped, an impish grin split Mr. Satan's face as he took out a pair of binoculars and gazed into the lens, a detonator in his right hand as he was about to cause the dynamite to explode in the pot of macaroni and take Buu with it, even though it would also mean taking the poor puppy out with the beast as well. But causalities were expected. He easily spotted Majin Buu and his pet, giggling contentedly as the puppy licked at his face. The more he observed the tender moment, the smaller and smaller his leer got until it diminished completely. Numbly, Mr. Satan released the binoculars as he watched the scene, although he could hardly see it anymore, in complete amazement.

"He looks so happy...so innocent..." Mr. Satan remarked as he took another look through his binoculars just to make sure he wasn't seeing things and saw the same scenario between Majin Buu and his new friend remained. "Ah, maybe I shouldn't finish him now," he thought as he almost absent-mindedly started pedalling away. As he did a small portion of his brain told him something that he thought was really hard to believe.

_*Maybe Majin Buu's not so evil as everyone takes him to be.*_

When Mr. Satan returned some time later, to his amazement, he found the two still frolicking where he had left them. No matter how much he tried to hold onto his ill-feelings for Buu, he couldn't hide his smile the warm scene elicit from him. Majin Buu and the puppy paused when they spotted Mr. Satan just standing beside his bike on the side of the house, holding the bag of produce as he stared at them, the two smiled happily as they ran towards the World Champion.

"Look, Bee-chan, Satan's back with food!" Buu told his four-legged friend who barked in response.

"Bee-chan?" Satan repeated. "Is that what you named him?" He asked.

Majin Buu nodded as he grabbed the bags from Mr. Satan, he and Bee then trotted it over towards the entrance of the Buu's house and that's when the reigning World Champion noticed the change in the Majin's house.

"I see you were busy while I was away," Mr. Satan said as he stepped backwards and got a better view. Instead of the weird alien structure Buu had started with, it was now dog-shaped. He then realized it was in honor of his new friend.

Mr. Satan then walked back over towards Buu and his eyes flew wide when he saw him eating a can of dog food. His face scrunched up, showing his obvious displeasure of the flavor.

"Yucky!" he grumbled in distaste.

"Um, Buu, you're not supposed to eat the dog food. It's for dogs. You know, like Bee-chan here," Mr. Satan explained as he gently pried the dog food from Buu and sat it on the ground in front of Bee who instantly started to chow down.

Majin Buu abruptly stood up and stretched as if he'd awoken from a long nap.

"I'm bored now. Time to go kill more people!" he said, his sweet expression returning back into his normal impishness.

Panic quickly flashed across his face at Buu's announcement.

"M-Majin Buu-sama! Dame da!" he called, and grabbed his arm just as he was about to take off.

"Huh?" Majin Buu peered at his friend curiously.

"Before I begin, please don't kill me after I say this?" Mr. Satan said. "Listen you can't just go around killing folks, its wrong." Mr. Satan promptly cowered a inch backwards as he expected Buu to make him explode, but instead he just stood before the World Champion, reflecting on what his friend told him.

"Killing's...wrong?" Majin Buu said after a long moment had passed.

Mr. Satan blinked several times before his brain started functioning again. "Huh? Um...why, yes, Buu-sama, it's wrong. You shouldn't kill people for the pure fun of it."

"But that's what they always told me to do," he answered, shrugging his shoulders a bit as he raised his hands. He then smiled. "Plus, it's fun!"

"Th-they who?"

"Bibidi and Babidi."

"Um Buu-san," Mr. Satan began, taking Buu's hand into his. "Those Bibidi and Babidi characters aren't here anymore, right?" A nod in reply. "Well, then there's no one to order you around anymore. Only you can decide what's right and wrong now."

As soon as he said that, however, he thought to himself: "Oh, what've I done? Only you can decide what's right and wrong-What a load of crap! I've just signed every being on Earth's death warrant."

So sure that he was right, he didn't expect what happened next.

"Okay, Satan. I won't kill any more."

The World Champion immediately became bewildered. Blinking slack-jawed at the pink obese demon, wondering if he was just hearing things when Buu said he wouldn't kill anymore. Only one way to find out.

"D-did you just say... you wouldn't kill anymore people?" he questioned, uncertainly.

"Mm-hmm," Majin Buu replied, nodding. "I promise."

"A-are you serious?" Mr. Satan sputtered as his mouth progressively twisted into a wide grin. "Are you absolutely positive you want kill any more?"

Majin Buu bobbed his head again in response.

"I did it! I did it! I did it! I did it!" The Budokai champion howled in glee as he leapt happily into the air. He, the mighty world champion Mr. Satan, had saved the world from near destruction.

He had actually tamed the unstoppable Majin Buu.

He was now officially a hero.

* * *

What just happened went unobserved. High up over the world, Dende and Piccolo both stood at the edge of the courtyard together, looking equally astonished by what they just witnessed.

"Absolutely incredible," Dende said in awe. Turning to Piccolo, he asked, "What does this mean, Piccolo-san?"

Piccolo glanced down at the young deity, then looked back at the scene below.

"It's hard to believe, but that idiot Mr. Satan might have actually saved the planet this time," he said.

"Well, this wouldn't be the most bizarre thing to occur on this world," Dende remarked, sounding faintly amused.

"I know exactly what you mean," Piccolo agreed, reflecting on his own friendship with the son of the man he had been born into this world hating.

"With Majin Buu's pledge not to do evil anymore, does this mean we can get through this without fighting then?" Dende asked hopefully.

Piccolo thought the question over, and then he recalled what Kosumo said about Majin Buu.

_"Majin Buu will not stop killing just because Babidi is gone- in fact, he will kill even more now! That monster thrives off killing and causing destruction; it's all one big game to him." _

"No, we will continue with the training as planned," Piccolo decided. "While Majin Buu agreed to stop killing, something about all of this makes me think this is just a little too easy. For now, we should keep watching to see how this all develops."

Dende agreed. "Hai, Piccolo-san."

* * *

There might just be good reason behind Piccolo's caution of continuing the Fusion training in spite of Buu's pledge after all.

As Majin Buu's rampage had seemingly come to a halt, a new breed of evil has manifested on the Earth- one more ruthless than Majin Buu as it lays to waste any survivors it found. And this time, evil took the forms of two human gunmen as they roamed through the empty streets of the once busy settlement, firing off anything they saw moving with their riffles.

The leader of the two, Baazan, a young blonde-haired man, possibly in his mid-thirties, grinned sinisterly as he flopped back down into the car seat after just killing off an elderly couple.

"Ahh, killing! Now I see why Majin Buu enjoys it so, it's so fun!" Baazan cackled.

His partner-in-crime and driver, Smitty, a gray-haired older man, ogled him with a sober look. He didn't really want to kill people, but as a servant to Baazan and his family for many years, he had no choice but to abide by them. Still, he couldn't help wincing when he saw Baazan shoot up a young man stepping out of an old pickup truck, killing him in an instant.

"Y-young master, is this really necessary?" Smitty asked. "We shouldn't be doing this, it's wrong! Besides, we should be more worried about Majin Buu. I hear he lives right pass this town."

Baazan scowled when he heard his servant's somber words. "Smitty, do not annoy me with your worthless sentiment! Majin Buu's goin' kill every last one of humans as it is! I just thought we could go out with a big bang!"

The blonde-haired man punctuated as he lifted his rifled and heartlessly fired at a woman. The bullet hit her straight in the chest and she fell limp on the ground. As they rode through the silent town a thought popped into Baazan head abruptly, one he may end up regretting or possibly, make him the unlikely savior of the world.

"Smitty, lets take a little trip to Buu's house," he ordered with a sinister smirk. "I've decided, we'll strike him before he can strike us."

A few moments later, Smitty stopped as the road ended well beyond the town they just left at a cliff, he and Baazan stepped out of the car with their riffles in tow, and walked towards the edge. The two straightaway found Majin Buu's house, the ugliest either of them had seen. Nonetheless the right place to find a mindless killing machine. Baazan dropped down on the ground and aimed the gun towards Buu's home and stared through the eye gauge, Smitty mimicked him. The two became immediately surprised when they found Majin Buu, the destroyer of Earth playing catch with a puppy.

"Time to ruin their little happy time!" Baazan said wickedly as he stabbed his gun directly at the puppy as it wandered away from Buu to fetch the ball. And just as soon as he got a hold of it...

POW!

Mr. Satan and Majin Buu gasped simultaneously as Bra fell limp onto the ground and became motionless.

"Oh, no, Bee-chan!" Mr. Satan swiftly dashed over to the puppy's side to tend to him.

Meanwhile, Majin Buu just remained where he was, however. He was gaping in shocked astonishment at the sudden tragedy that fallen upon his little friend.

Mr. Satan's dark brows creased in dread as he searched for Bee's pulse...he didn't find one; he then turned startling eyes towards Majin Buu, not really knowing how to tell him. Just as he was about to give Buu the awful news, Satan's eyes widened when he suddenly saw the dog twitch. He grinned.

"Hey, Buu-san! Bee is still alive!" Mr. Satan announced. That instantly snapped the demon out of his daze.

"St-till alive?" Majin Buu repeated. For a moment, the Majin regarded the dog. Then he trekked over towards the pair and knelt down beside his fallen friend.

"Buu?" Mr. Satan asked, confused as to what Buu was about to do as he spread his arms out over Bee's wound. All of a sudden, a knowing comprehension came to him without being summoned. Buu's ability to heal, he'd nearly forgot all about the pink warrior's technique and now Earth wouldn't be purged in darkness and destruction.

Majin Buu concentrated and soon a golden wave of energy started swirling over Bee's lesion. Mr. Satan watched in fascination as the hole closed and was soon no more, making it appear as if the gunshot had never marred the puppy. In the next second, Bee's happy charcoal eyes flew opened; languorously he rose back to his feet and barked contentedly towards his two owners.

"Buu, all right! You did it! You did it!" Mr. Satan yelled cheerfully.

Majin Buu cheered in exult as he and the World Champion started dancing around happily that Bee was still alive. The little puppy running around them in circles, staring up at them curiously.

"Hey guys, I'm goin' prepare a large feast for us on this special occasion!" Mr. Satan said. He beckoned for them to follow, and they did.

From up on the cliff, Baazan's face contorted in anger as he couldn't believe a perfect shot like that had gone to waste. Beside and behind him, Smitty looked thoughtfully through his binoculars down below- more accurately at the other person who was with Majin Buu and the puppy. From such a far distance, he could've sworn it was the Champion of Martial Arts, Mr. Satan, but wasn't quite sure.

"Smitty, it seems will have to kill the bastard at close range!" Baazan snarled, placing his rifle over his shoulder, he began climbing down off the overhang; Smitty mimicked his young wicked friend.

Since the climb off the cliff was such a short distance, the gun were on the ground in no time. Stealthily, they slithered over towards Majin Buu's home and soon found a concealment of boulders to hide in. The two then decided to peak over the boulder and Smitty gasped when he saw a startling, all-too familiar face in the kitchen.

"So I was right!" he said, snapping his fingers.

"What are you talking about, Smitty?" Baazan demanded, frowning at the older man curiously. "What were you right about?"

"It's the World Champion, Mr. Satan," Smitty answered..

Baazan looked back at him as if he'd just lost his mind..

"Are you sure?" The blonde-haired man questioned incredulously.

Smitty nodded. Baazan still didn't believe him.

"Impossible! Why the hell would the world champion be hanging around a evil villain such as Majin Buu?" Baazan asked.

"But it's the truth young master," Smitty said. "Just see for yourself."

Baazan scowled at him a brief moment longer, before he took the binoculars and stared downward. A second later, he gasped as he'd just obviously spotted something interesting.

"You're right, Smitty! That really is the World Champion! Him and Buu look a little too chummy down there," he remarked, grimacing. "Don't tell me he's gone traitor?"

"What do we do, sir?" Smitty asked.

After a moment of consideration, a mischievous grin splitting his face as a devious plan worked its way through his brain.

"What's so funny?" Smitty asked, not liking the sadistic gleam Baazan had in his eyes.

Baazan looked directly at Smitty, staring into his eyes. "Don't you see the picture Smitty, my ole, boy? Well, I can...Mr. Satan joins forces with the enemy, so I, the great Baazan, will slay them both! If we do this, we'll become the new champions of the world! And all that money he has will be ours!"

Smitty just stared at Baazan for a few moments. However, as he sat there gaping, his master's words started to sink into his mind and actually make sense. Unconsciously, an evil smile crept his way across his features as he started imaging them killing Majin Buu, Mr. Satan, and the puppy, and then subsequently being hailed as heroes and taking all of the fame.

He then wheeled his head toward Baazan and swung him a knowing smirk.

"Let's do it, young master!"

* * *

Mr. Satan found himself in a familiar situation a short while later on. He was standing in the kitchen in front of the stove again, preparing another lunch for the always-hungry Majin Buu, though, he was doing it a better frame of mind than he had last time. Plus, he also wasn't trying to put anymore explosives or poison in it anymore, and he had also decided to tear up that picture he got Buu to take for him. Satan realized how he had only taken advantage of Buu's naivety and innocence, and it was unscrupulous of him to do.

He looked out the corner of his eye and smiled when he saw Majin Buu playing with their puppy Bee, who was presently licking the Majin's face happily and making him giggle. It was amazing to him how different the once destructive creature was from the way he looked yesterday. And all it had took to tame him was to be his friend, rather than try to be his master like mostly everyone else had tried to do in the past. And all of that could've been ruined when Bee had gotten shot and was nearly hanging on death's door just some time ago.

It still bewildered him as to how it had happened in the first place. At first, he wanted to think that it had all just been a stray bullet shot from someone firing with bad aim, but that made him wonder who would be shooting in a place where Majin Buu lived at. Then that made him think that it had been somebody who'd been angry at what Buu had been doing and decided to come out and get revenge on him by killing something precious to him. And that thought made the World Champion mad.

If someone wanted to try and kill Majin Buu, that was fine and all. Particularly since he they wouldn't be able to accomplish the task in the first place. But taking their vengeance out on a poor, innocent puppy was another thing entirely, something the dark-haired fighter just didn't stand for. It had to take someone pretty heartless and gutless to want to kill an innocent animal. And if he ever found out who'd shot his puppy in the first place, he'd show that person just how dangerous of a man he really was.

Mr. Satan had half-way turned around to ask Majin Buu something, when his ears suddenly picked up the sounds of footsteps and a gun locking. Turning around, he was more than just a bit startled when he saw an unfamiliar blonde-haired man in black clothing standing before him, grinning at him almost insanely and aiming a gun at him. For a long moment, the two of them just stood there looking at one another, with either Majin Buu or Bee aware of what was going on.

Then, something occurred to Mr. Satan. Bee getting hit by a bullet...and now a strange man shows up with a gun. The World Champion's eyes widened with realization.

"So, it was you who shot my dog!" Mr. Satan hissed through gritted teeth.

Baazan chuckled maliciously. "Farwell, champ," he said contemptuously.

A moment later, Majin Buu and Bee's playtime had been interrupted by another horrible _pow _sound. The two looked around just in time to see two things happen. Mr. Satan collapsing to the floor hard, a trail of blood spreading slowly from his chest , and the culprit dashing away from the scene of the crime as quickly as he could.

Majin Buu's eyes grew wide with genuine fear as he stared down at Mr. Satan's unmoving form sprawled on the floor. Bee leaped out of Buu hands, which had gone very numb, and quickly rushed over to his friend's side, whimpering in dread. He tried nudging Mr. Satan with his cold nose, and even licking him in the face, but his human friend remained unresponsive. Slowly, almost dreamlike, Buu rose from his chair and walked over toward the two. He knelt down beside the fallen Mr. Satan, staring at him with the expression of a young child watching their father die.

Though, Majin Buu soon realized that despite Mr. Satan was refractory, he was still breathing at least. Majin Buu was about to heal him when suddenly he heard evil barks of cackles outside behind him. Standing and rushing over to nearby window to see who it was outside, he discovered Baazan and Smitty behind some nearby boulders. Both seemed very proud of what Baazan had just accomplished as they kept laughing, and it made Majin Buu mad.

He knew he'd promised Mr. Satan that he wouldn't kill anymore humans, but they had hurt his friend and were laughing about it. At that moment, he wanted to kill the two of them and have a good laugh about it. The longer he kept watching them, something started to stir inside the demon, a feeling of rage and hatred he couldn't remember ever experiencing before. It began to tear through him, searching for an outlet to unleash pure hellish violence onto the two men…and everyone else. Steam started to escape through the holes on his head, and at the same time, his head started to hurt...

Majin Buu was so close to tossing a ki bolt at the two when he almost forgot about Mr. Satan. He turned towards the stationary warrior and dropped down beside him, tears streaming down his face as his antenna glowed brilliantly as he tried to rejuvenate his very first friend- -and succeeded.

Mr. Satan groaned as he rolled over, he blinked as he quickly spotted Majin Buu over by the cabinet, however, something seemed to be wrong. Majin Buu's face was contorted in pain as his hands were clapped over his head, steaming smoke rising out of the little holes on his head.

"Doshitano, Majin Buu-san?" Mr. Satan asked worriedly as he crawled over towards Buu, only to be pushed away.

As he did Bee came running into the kitchen and began licking the champ's face.

"Ah, Bee-chan...stop!" Mr. Satan ordered between giggles.

Bee stopped when they heard a teakettle go off, however it wasn't tea. It was Buu.

"Majin Buu, what's wrong with you?" Mr. Satan asked worried.

"...Get Bee-chan and go!" Buu grunted as he punched a hole in the wall in a wild fit. "Get...get very far away!"

"But Buu-"

"GO!" Buu ordered, a malicious and forceful tone clouding his usually cheerful voice as he spun blazing eyes on the World Champ.

Mr. Satan jumped at the lilt of Buu's voice. On sheer panic, Mr. Satan gathered Bee into his arms and the two stormed out of the house and hid on the side. Even from there they could hear Majin Buu screaming and grunting in more pain while releasing steam.

" I wonder what's wrong with Buu?" he murmured, feeling powerless as he didn't think he or even Bee could soothe the savage beast in their friend this time around.

Then, Mr. Satan suddenly heard something.

"Smitty," said a voice- a voice that sounded a whole lot like the man who had shot both him and Bee.

Mr. Satan placed the dog onto the ground and shushed him, telling him silently to stay where he was and then he went back round the corner and saw the two thrillseekers were about to go around the other way. With great velocity the world champion charged into action towards the unsuspecting pair-

"Smitty, lets go end this fat piece of sh-"

"EEEEEEEE!" Baazan turned when he heard his companion's painful yowl, he gasped and gaped when he saw Smitty lying face first in the ground. His startled eyes travelled up to Smitty's attacker, and Baazan nearly keeled over when he saw the World Champion standing over his friend.

"But that's impossible! I killed you!" he shouted, backpedaling way in disbelief.

"Yeah, well sorry to disappoint you," Satan said sarcastically, "but I'm still alive and...KICKING!" Mr. Satan punctuated as he surged towards Baazan and delivered a kick to his chest, knocking thrillseeker down.

Mr. Satan dropped down in front of the fallen Baazan and the man screamed as the World Champion fisted a handful of his black shirt and hauled him up.

"Oh, no! Please, no, Mr. Satan, sir! It wasn't my fault, it was all Smitty's doing! He made me do it!"

Mr. Satan didn't buy one bit of his words.

"Worthless asshole! Save it for someone who gives a damn!" he snarled. He drew his balled fist back, ready to deliver the finishing blow when-

KAA-BOOM!

Mr. Satan and Baazan turned when they heard the detonating sound, and unsurprisingly it was Majin Buu, and he was still holding his head and he steadied release steam into the air.

_"Buu what's wrong you?"_ Mr. Satan asked himself silently, Bee woofed as ran over towards the champion whose eyes were riveting on Majin Buu as the obese creature screamed in torment, the vapor rose from his head non-stop.

Satan wanted to help, but this seemed far beyond him, and so he stood helplessly with Bee and watched Majin Buu battle with whatever unseen force that was tormenting him. A white light suddenly manifested around Buu and expanded, destroying Buu's house in the process. Mr. Satan held Bee and braced himself as a strong gush of wind threatened to blow them, Baazan and the now conscious Smitty away like they were mere leaves. The tone in Buu's voice rose to new levels, the vibrations of his lilt caused most of the overhangs nearby crumpled into boulders.

Mysteriously, everything suddenly became silent, Majin Buu collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting and sobbing for breath, and startlingly felt calm after releasing a whole lot of steam. Sweat poured down his face and dripped onto the darkened terrain below him. Wait a minute...dark? Majin Buu looked up ahead and noticed the other parts of the ground were lighter than the one he was sitting on.

Curiously, everyone else peered upward. All their jaws almost dropped at the same time, when he discovered all the haze he'd released into the air was still there, hanging in the sky like a large, white ominous cloud when it should've been dispersed by now.

"Whu...what in the hell's going on here?" Mr. Satan questioned in astonishment.

And to make things even more stranger, the thick white haze began bending and warping as if it was taking a existence of its own. The four observed the scene in mute astonishment as the fog started spinning and twirling into a tall humanoid shape. And then right before their very eyes the foggy entity materialized into a dark, thin individual dressed in Majin Buu's clothing.

"Eh! What the hell is that THING!" Smitty and Baanzan bellowed in unison.

_*Evil!*_ Buu thought as he locked gazes with his malevolent equivalent. That was why he had been in pain just a few moments ago, trying to suppress the evil that tried to claw its way to the surface- -and it has and now nothing could stop it.

Possibly not even him.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	47. A New Buu in Town

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ, but the original characters in this story are mine. **

**Chapter Forty-Seven: A New Buu In Town**

* * *

The air around Mr. Satan seemed to turn very stuffy all of a sudden. He vaguely wondered if it had something to do with the thick tension he could almost see building between Majin Buu...and Majin Buu! His brain was still having a hard time digesting that Majin Buu had actually created another Majin Buu. Amazingly enough to him, the new Majin Buu looked a lot meaner than the original did, with his drab gray skin tone, a much more athletic body that looked to be on the gaunt side at the same time, and not to mention that unhinged gleam in his eyes. This newfangled Majin Buu just radiated pure evil, and it sent chills of fright racing up and down the Champion's spine just thinking about what the other Buu was capable of doing.

_*This is bad. This is really bad!* _he thought, horror-stricken.

He knew it had only been by extreme luck- the same luck that allowed him to get away with his lie about defeating Cell and be hailed as a worldwide hero for seven years- that he had been able to stop the original Majin Buu from his rampage over the planet. However, he had a pretty good feeling that this new Buu craved destruction and misery a whole lot more and wouldn't be swayed so easily.

Suddenly needing to feel comforted, Mr. Satan hugged Bee closely against him, who dutifully obliged by nuzzling his human friend's neck in a consoling manner.

Several feet away, in their hiding place behind some boulders, Baazan and Smitty were equally appalled after what they had just witnessed, and what they were seeing now.

"I-I don't believe it!" Baazan faltered. He didn't look so cocky now. "T-that bastard actually split into two people! How's that even possible!"

Beside him, his servant was trembling as if it was in the middle of winter, and his eyes were wide with nothing short of absolute fear.

"U-um...Maybe we should be taking her leave now, young master?" Smitty suggested.

Normally, Baazan would have automatically refuted the suggestion. He was a man of action who thrived on danger and the thrill of the kill. He didn't run from anybody! However, the deranged murderer had realized that this was just too out of his league. Not trusting his voice at the moment, Baazan turned toward his partner and nodded in agreement. With no further words between them, the two killers began to make their departure, though doing so in a stealth manner to keep either of the Majin Buus, or even Mr. Satan, from noticing them.

Unfortunately for them, things didn't go exactly the way they had hoped.

Just as the two had finally decided to leave...the new Majin Buu had chosen that time to take his eyes off his grimacing counterpart and looked in their direction. To be more accurate, he doubled over backwards and looked directly at them. Both the wicked gunmen froze instantly in place as soon as they became aware that the other Buu was staring at them, and he wasn't exactly giving them a very friendly look.

The gray-skinned Buu remembered how he was created from the fury born inside the original Majin over the heinous actions those two humans committed against his only true friends. While he personally didn't think of that man or dog as his friends like his Good counterpart did, the fact of the matter was those humans hurt him in the worst of ways, and he wouldn't let them get away with this. That was why he had separated from the other Buu. He wanted to kill the two heartless gunmen personally, and that's exactly what he was going to do.

Then Smitty and Baazan took off. The two scrambled across the terrain for their very lives toward the cliff where they'd parked their car. Mr. Satan and Bee watched them attempt to flee with looks of surprise, meanwhile, Good Buu continued to glare irately at his evil personification. Evil Buu ignored him, though, his gaze still trailing the retreating humans.

However, the two gunmen only managed to reach the cliff and climb to the halfway point, before the pure evil Majin finally went into action.

Still bent over, Majin Buu gathered ki inside his mouth and then released it in an intense pillar of orange energy. The ki blast roiled through the air as it made a beeline toward the two killers. Smitty and Baazan had just climbed onto the cliff fully, when the world suddenly went dark around them and they saw a bright light coming toward them out the corner of their eyes, accompanied by a loud humming noise. Risking a look around, the two stared in terror when they saw the massive beam rushing towards them. Screaming, the two men hastily climbed into the jeep, but just as Smitty had gotten the car cranked, the beam hit, consuming both the men and everything else in its path.

Mr. Satan clutched Bee protectively against him while the two of them lowered their heads and braced themselves for the subsequent aftershock against the broken chunk that once made up Buu's house. Meanwhile, Good Buu stood his ground, his pliable skin rippling as the concussive air of his counterpart's furious attack washed over him.

Things settled down after a long moment. Mr. Satan and Bee slowly raised their heads, looking over to the spot where Evil Majin Buu had fired his attack. Both man and puppy were aghast to find that in the place of the cliff that had once stood was a long, deep strench, stretching out for miles. There were no signs of either Smiity or Baazan left behind at all.

A feeling of depraved satisfaction swelled up inside of Evil Buu. That had been more fun than he thought it would be, and it felt so good to be able to kill people with his own hands for a change. He couldn't wait to kill all the Earthlings that were still left alive on the planet, but more importantly, to fight those two strong warriors he had been promised by that man with the big, yellow hair he fought yesterday.

But before he could get to all of those things, there was something else he had to take care of first...

The Good Majin Buu flinched a bit when his dark counterpart abruptly stood upright again, getting directly in his face. Having the height advantage, the wicked Majin glowered down coldly at his Good side, who glared back at him with defiance and hatred in his eyes.

"Grr! Who are you?" the innocent Majin Buu demanded.

"I'm Majin Buu, you clown!" the other Buu answered scornfully.

"I'm Majin Buu!"

"No, I'm Majin Buu!"

"No, I am!"

Over from their safe distance, Mr. Satan and Bee was watching the interaction between the two Majin Buus with a mixture of bemusement and worry. It felt so strange to them to be seeing Majin Buu getting into a shouting match with himself, which seemed to be swiftly leading down the road to a big fight. Now Mr. Satan truly knew the meaning of the word 'split personality'.

"Man, what else is going to happen?" Mr. Satan wondered.

Good Buu had finally had it with Evil Buu, now very determined to knock the superior expression off the face of his counterpart. Growling in anger, he threw the first punch.

And he missed.

A two more punches are thrown.

He misses each time again.

Really fed up now, Good Buu launched an all-out attack, punching at the other Buu in a flurry of blows. But unfortunately, his counterpart continued to dodge him dexterously. The first Buu may have been impressively agile for someone of his large girth, but due to his much leaner built, the evil incarnation was that much faster. After a few more moments of this, the pink Buu slowed to a stop, breathing hungrily for air. All of that had taken quite a lot out of him.

Then Evil Buu went on the attack. The gray Majin pummelled his Good side just as uncomplicatedly as he avoided all of his punches earlier. Over by the house, Mr. Satan watched it all in shock, unable to believe that Majin Buu was badly losing a fight. Especially after he had fought almost evenly with that gold warrior with the big hair yesterday. How ironic that after everything that had been thrown against Majin Buu, only for the demon to shrug it off, the only force in this world that he couldn't stand up to would turn out to be himself.

Still, Mr. Satan knew he couldn't let his friend lose like this. He had to do something to offer him support.

"Go Majin Buu-I mean, the good one!" Satan cheered. "Beat that twisted freak!"

In his arms, Bee barked out some encouragement of his own.

Sadly, no matter how much cheering they did, it still didn't change the fact that Good Buu was clearly outclassed by the pure evil Majin. Everything he threw out, he failed. Capturing Evil Buu with his skin and trying to squeeze the life out of him didn't even work, as Evil Buu easily broke free and added further insult by consuming his counterpart's skin.

* * *

Back at the Tenkai, both Piccolo and Dende were also trying to make sense of the bizarre, troubling scene happening down below. Just then, Amara walks up to the pair, looking more agitated than usual.

"Hey, you two, what the hell's going on?" Amara demanded. "I can feel a tremendously evil ki down on their planet. Not even Majin Buu felt like this!"

"I-it is Majin Buu!" Dende stammered. Beside him, Piccolo's hands clenched into fists.

"What?" Amara repeated, raising a questioning brow. "What do you mean it's Majin Buu?"

"Due to the actions of two foolish humans, our situation may have just taken a change for the worst," Piccolo said grimly, his fangs clenched in bleak irritation. "Down on the Earth, a incident took place that forced Majin Buu to separate into two separate entities. One good, one pure evil, with the latter taking most of the power after the split. And unlike the original Majin Buu, however, this new one is built for actual fighting."

Amara stared back at the two Namekseijin in surprise, stunned at what she were hearing.

"Y-you can't be serious?" she said in disbelief. When neither Piccolo nor Dende answered her, the Saiyajin Princess gasped and gaped, then scowled. She then moved closer to the edge to see what was going on for herself.

Standing short distance away, both Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou looked equally disturbed after overhearing the conversation just then.

* * *

The melee between the Buus continued in the lower realm, with Good Buu fighting for all he was worth, though still not seeming any closer to gaining the advantage over his Evil side. After avoiding a ki blast, Good Buu shifts to his side in an all-too familiar pose, cupping his hands together. Pulling up in front of him, Evil Buu sensed what he was trying to do and mimicked him. Then the two Buus launched a simultaneous Kamehameha Wave; the beams met in the center and quarrelled. This went on for a long time before Evil finally pushed on through, overwhelming his counterpart, who sails earthward and crashes hard onto the rocky terrain once more, whipping up a cloud of dust.

"H-hang in there, Good Majin Buu! Get it!" Mr. Satan shouted. "Don't lose to a guy like that!"

When the smoke cleared, the well-battered Good Buu was pulling himself back up to sitting position, teeth gritted. The expression on his face told the story- he didn't have much left in him. The Evil Buu was too strong, however, as his evil counterpart touched down nearby, Good Buu realized that he only had one chance, which would probably be his best, as no one has ever countered this specific attack...

"Turn to chocolate!" Good Buu ordered, then he fired a Henka Beam at him.

Evil Buu looked more amused than worried by this. Then, with a quick inhale, Evil Buu exhaled out a strong gust of wind, reflecting the Henka Beam right back at his counterpart. The Good Buu only had a moment to look shocked, before he was hit by his own attack, crying in shock as his body had frozen and hardened all over. After a bright flash of pink light, Good Buu had been reduced to a small-sized, chocolate candy version of himself, hitting the ground dismally.

Both Mr. Satan and Bee stared in matching horror at what they just saw.

Walking over to his chocolate-transformed counterpart, Evil Buu regarded it for a moment. As far as he was concerned, he was the true and only Majin Buu- there wasn't room in this universe for two. Bending down, Buu picked up his trophy, and the former Majin Buu used to do whenever he saw a sugary treat in front of him, he promptly ate it. Slowly, he chewed on his candy, savoring his prize. But just as soon as he swallowed, a reaction went off inside the wicked Majin, his eyes widening as pink lightning emitted from his body. Buu's face twisted in insane joy while pink smoke steamed out of the holes on his head and arms, engulfing him.

Mr. Satan's eyes tripled as he goggled at the unreal occurrence taking place in front of him and Bee. Inside the smoke, he could see Buu's silhouette and also a change coming over it. But soon he couldn't see even that, as more steam rose up to completely block the Majin from view for several long moments. At long last, the steam ebbed away, revealing a new and improved Pure Evil Majin Buu.

The transformed Majin was taller and even more built for fighting. After consuming his Good counterpart, Majin Buu had regained his original pink skin tone, and his upper body had filled out entirely with muscles. No longer did he wear a vest, or a cape, or a pair of gloves; except for his pants (his only real article of clothing), Buu's attire resembled nothing of what he wore in his previous form or what his counterpart wore. Circling his arms were black armbands bordered gold. Buu's metamorphosis had also darkened his white eyes pink. Most importantly, however, the transformation had boosted his already extraordinary strength to even higher levels.

Nearby, Mr. Satan and Bee were both still gawping at the demon fighter.

"H-he's turned into something funny again!" Mr. Satan said in shock. "W-what's going on?"

Majin Buu completely ignored the martial artist and the dog, instead popping his neck a few times. After a loud yawn, Buu paused momentarily. Then he flung his head back and screamed towards the heavens, unleashing his newfound power all over the planet. Being in such close range of the Majin, Mr. Satan and Bee were soon blown away like mere scraps of paper.

* * *

In the higher realm of the Earth, those at God's Palace felt it as well, as the entire bowl rattled violently.

* * *

In the Kaioushin Realm, Goku, Kaioushin, Kibito, and Gohan were staring off into the distance with varying looks of consternation. Meanwhile, Rou Kaioushin was still enjoying his comic book.

"Is that Majin Buu?" Kibito asked.

"I don't know..." Kaioushin said grimly.

"What is happening back on Earth?" Goku wondered. "Where did Buu get all that power from?"

Overhearing his father, Gohan turned to Rou Kaioushin. "Um, could you hurry it up? Otherwise there won't be a Earth left for me to save."

"Don't worry, I'm doing the best that I can," Rou Kaioushin assured him, never taking his eyes off his comic. Flipping a page, the god instantly burst into a fit of laughter.

Gohan glared at him. "Somehow, I don't think you really are."

* * *

"You guys, what was all that just now?" Kuririn was asked, as he, Yamucha, and Mr. Popo approached.

"Majin Buu just got what hell of a upgrade just now," Amara said grimly. The Saiyajin Princess scowled.

"What?" Yamucha asked, not liking the sound of that.

"Majin Buu has turned into an even fearsome monster than he already was," Piccolo added, "and now he's really suited for fighting."

There was a pause.

"B-but that's okay," Kuririn said. "We still have Fusion!"

"Right, and Goku said that Fusion was the strongest technique around, right?" Yamucha asked, trying to sound positive as well.

"Piccolo, we still have a chance to win, don't we?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

Piccolo said nothing for a long moment, considering what those three just said. Amara observed Piccolo impatiently, wanting him to respond already. Seven years ago, Amara wouldn't have cared about Piccolo's opinion in anything, but having gotten to know him, she now recognized him as quite the intelligent fighter. In spite being stronger than him, she knew he was aware of things she wasn't.

"Majin Buu has become tremendously stronger, but both Juumara and Gotenji definitely still have a chance against him," Piccolo answered at length. "You four are our last card to play against Buu. Since we got one more day, we should definitely manage something, however, the rest of this day must be spent getting you four powered-up inside the Room of Spirit and Time."

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou nodded in agreement.

"Where are Koji and Goten?" Piccolo inquired.

"After they ate, the two of them got tired and are now taking a nap inside the palace," Juuhachi-gou explained.

"Go wake them! Now is not the time for them to be sleeping!" Piccolo

Agreeing with that, Juuhachi-gou turned around and headed towards the palace. After a moment, Amara decided to follow her. While that was going on, Piccolo drew up at Dende's side at the edge of the courtyard again, both wanting to keep an eye on the actions of this new Majin Buu. In the next moment, dismay suddenly twist the expressions of both Piccolo and Dende, as the two Namekseijin see something quite disturbing.

"Piccolo, what's the matter?" Kuririn asked.

"H-he's coming here!" Piccolo replied. "Majin Buu is own his way here! He can sense our ki!"

Kuririn, Yamucha, Juunana-gou, and Mr. Popo looked identically unsettled at that announcement.

Just like Piccolo said, Buu was currently making a beeline straight towards the Lookout. Even now the demon fighter was flying upward alongside Karin's ivory tower, shrieking with insane laughter.

* * *

Due to assimilating his Good side into his being, Buu had gained the extra ability to seek out one's ki. Long before his transformation, Evil Majin Buu had already sensed several large kis gathered together in one spot somewhere above the lower realm of the planet. That's when Buu realized that it had to be the place where his two promised challengers were hiding at, so that was another reason why he went through the trouble of absorbing the other Buu. If these two were as strong as the gold-haired man had been, or even stronger, then he would need all of his full power.

While Buu knew that the original agreement was for two days, he really didn't even know how long a day actually was, though even if he did he wouldn't care. He was ready to fight now, so they had better be prepared.

Bursting through the clouds, the Lookout was within the demon's sight now. Smirking, Majin Buu increased his speed. Within a matter of moments, Buu hurtled out from underneath the Tenkai and touched down on the tower in front of Piccolo and the others, whom immediately backpedaled away. Just then, the others appear around the corner, immediately drawing up to a stop to stare at this very unwelcome visitor in consternation.

"I-Is that really Majin Buu?" Yamucha asked, shocked at the appearance of this Buu.

"Yes, it is," Piccolo answered grimly. "This is the transformed Buu."

Majin Buu said nothing in response. Instead, he went into a round of sadistic laughter, happy that his chance to finally fight his two promised opponents had arrived.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	48. Mankind's Extinction

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ, but the original characters in this story are mine. **

**Chapter Forty-Eight: Mankind's Extinction**

* * *

Majin Buu never was a patient sort. Even back in his previous form, his supply of patience hadn't been all that large; and after his transformation, what patience his last incarnation had possessed had become extremely shortened in his new form. That was why with each second that ticked by and he was forced to wait for his promised challengers to make their appearances, he grew more and more frustrated. His annoyance was quite obvious to everyone who was watching him, as his arms crossed in front of his chest in irritation and the fingers on his right hand tapped impatiently on his left bicep. It was even more so to the ones with ki-sensing abilities, as the Majin's ki kept rising and rising in correspondence with his growing vexation over having to wait.

When neither of his adversaries had appeared within the next few moments, Majin Buu had had enough. Turning around, Majin Buu immediately levelled his cold, dark pink eyes directly on Piccolo. The Namekseijin quailed under his harsh gaze.

"My challengers...produce them!" he demanded angrily. "Produce them NOW!"

To show them he wasn't joking around, the Majin let some of his power go. It rushed forward with savage hurricane force, with Piccolo, Dende, Kuririn, and Mr. Popo taking the full brunt of it as they were the closest to the annoyed demon, and nearly blown away. Though they were at what seemed like a safer distance, the others were harshly reminded that weren't safe from the fury of Majin Buu as they were hit by the blast of vicious wind as well. While everyone else grabbed a hold of the nearby convenient pillars to keep themselves from blowing away, Juunana-gou stood his ground, swearing under his breath while he used one arm to block off the concussive air of Majin Buu's energy wave, which was taking everything that he had. After another moment or so, Majin Buu finally powered back down. However, even as things had seemed to settle back down, Majin Buu's impromptu attacked had left some of the others shook up...with Piccolo being one of them.

_*What an absolute monster!*_ Piccolo commented, while trying to suppress the shiver that was trying to work its way up his spine as he remembered the bone-chilling feel of Buu's evil power just then, making the unaccustomed cold knot in his stomach grow. *_This is bad. Majin Buu can kill each and every last one of us whenever he choses, and if something isn't done soon then that time might just be now. Damn him! I hope Amara and Juuhachi-gou have wakened the boys up now. The four of them are definitively going to need to go inside the Seishin before the face up against this Majin Buu!*_

"Oooh! Damn that monster!" Bulma fumed loudly, while she was trying to calm down Bra again, who started crying after Buu's display of power just then.

"Man, what in the world's taking Juuhachi-gou-san and Amara and the boys so long to get out here?" Yamucha asked. "We could sure use Gotenji and Juumara right about now. But do you think they'll win?" That last comment had been directed at Muten Roshi.

"I really don't know. It's hard to say, Yamucha," the Turtle Elder admitted in a serious manner. "In his new form, Majin Buu's power is immeasurable. Maybe they had a chance against the other Majin Buu, but it's going to take a miracle for Gotenji and Juumara to beat that creature there."

"Well, we just got to have faith in them," Videl said. "They're our only hope against Majin Buu."

Then, to herself, she added, *_Maybe if Gohan was here, we might stand a even better a chance against Majin Buu. And where is he, anyway? I haven't seen him since I saw him off to go fight with Majin Buu- well, the other Majin Buu. And I'm really starting to worry... *_

For a split moment, Videl started to wonder if what the others had told her about Gohan had actually been true after all. Was Gohan really dead? Then, just as soon as she asked herself that, Videl dispelled the thought from her mind. What was she thinking? Of course Gohan, the one who'd rid their world of Cell seven years ago wasn't dead, no matter what anyone said! She didn't exactly know where he was right now, but she definitely knew he wasn't dead. It was more than just simple woman's intuition that she knew that fact. She could feel it through the bond they shared that he was alive out there somewhere. However, when he finally did return, he might as well wish he was dead for what she was going to do to him for worrying her so much.

"Well, I'm not just going to stand here and be intimidated by that monster!" Chichi suddenly declared, brandishing a broom. "I going to take action!"

"What!" the others standing close to her chorused, staring at her as if she'd just gone utterly ballistic.

"It's time to make that beast pay for what he did to my Gohan!" Chichi said, her eyes glinting with bitter fury.

Then, to the shock of the others, Chichi looked as if she was really going to try and fight Majin Buu, as she tried to charge at him with the broom. However, she didn't get very far before her father reached out with his large arms and encompassed his daughter's slim waist, holding her immobilized.

"What!" Chichi squawked indignantly as she realized what was going on. "Pa, let go of me this instant!"

"Sorry, Chichi, but I can't let you go out there," her father said. "You'll get yourself killed!"

"I don't care! I've got to make him pay! So, let me go already!"

"Forget it, Chichi!"

"I said let GO!" Chichi shrieked.

Sweatdrops formed on the side of the head of the others, while they watched as Chichi struggled like a wild thing to get away from her father and go after Majin Buu. As she did so, she kept unintentionally hitting her father in the face in the broom or even scrubbing his teeth with it.

Over at that the end of the courtyard, with neither of his challengers still not brought forward before him, Buu was starting to rapidly grow annoyed again.

"I said to bring out the two fighters, right now!" he growled, making the ones standing close to him jump. "I won't ask again!"

Piccolo quickly replied, "But they're just not ready to fight you yet."

The Namekseijin backpedaled when Buu's eyes narrowed coldly on him, telling him wordlessly that he didn't like his response.

"I don't care. I wanna fight right now!" The sour twist of Majin Buu's mouth suddenly curved into a wicked smirk, and he tilted his head a bit to the side. "Either bring me my challengers right now, or you and your friends here can take their place instead! Would you like that?" He chuckled as his ultimatum made the group in front of him tense in fear.

"N-no, wait Majin Buu!" Piccolo called quickly, knowing he was going to have to think of something fast or Chikyuu's last hope for survival would be crushed. "Your two challengers need more time before they'll be able to give you a good fight. And isn't that what you've been waiting for all this time? Tough opponents to face? Well, if you'll just wait then you'll get your challenge. I promise you that."

Majin Buu grimaced, jaws creasing angrily. If there was one thing the advanced Majin Buu hated to do it was to wait. But he was itching for a good fight, though.

"What am I'm suppose to do until they are ready?"

Piccolo stared blinkingly at Buu, while relief washed over him that Majin Buu was actually considering to wait until Juumara and Gotenji were ready. But that was a good question Buu had asked: what was Buu going to do while he waited? Piccolo knew he'd have to think of something good knowing how impatient Buu is and how he craved for destruction-Piccolo's eyes flew wide as a sudden, though very nauseating thought sprung into his head.

No! He couldn't do that!...But what other choice did he have?

Piccolo grimaced, baring his ivory fangs and compressing his clenching hands, he stared down at his feet thinking this initiative over. Momentarily, Piccolo raised his gaze back to Majin Buu, his eyes filled with uneasy resolve as he'd just made one of the most uncomfortable decisions he's ever had to make before in his life.

"While your opponents are getting ready for you why don't you...have some more fun with the rest of the people down on Earth?" Piccolo suggested. "You can eat up the time by killing the humans left down below.

"WHAT?" Everyone who'd been close enough to hear the suggestion screamed in outrage at him simultaneously. Meanwhile, Majin Buu only grinned in wicked eagerness.

"Piccolo, are you nuts?" Kuririn bellowed.

"Yeah, what's your deal man?" Yamucha demanded, sounding just as angry as the shorter man.

"Mama and Papa are still down there!" Bulma said crossly, still clutching Bra, who'd managed to calm down after being startled by Majin Buu earlier.

"And my father's down there as well!" Videl reminded him, scowling.

"We...we have no choice!" Piccolo said painstakingly. "We need to buy as much time for Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and the boys...and this the only thing that could possibly distract Buu long enough for them."

Piccolo bowed his head in shame as he knew they had every right to be upset with him. If Gohan was still there, he would've probably loss all respect he ever had for his Namekseijin mentor.

The others didn't look all that convinced at Piccolo's response at first. Then, slowly, airs of resignation could be seen around the group.

"_Hai_... besides I can always wish my parents and the others back with the Dragonballs," Bulma murmured.

The group had soon reached an acceptance of Piccolo's idea, as they knew there was really no other way around this. What people left on Earth would have to be sacrificed, and then they would wish them back with the Dragonballs later on. Seeing that everyone was in more or less in agreement, Piccolo turned back around to give Majin Buu to the go-head. As he whirled, however, he was a bit bewildered to see Majin Buu walk off.

"Just where the hell does he think he's going?" Kuririn wondered, eying Majin Buu supiciously and angrily. "Has he suddenly decide to take a tour of the place or something? He's got some damn nerve!"

"No, it's not that," Piccolo said, his eyes widened as realization hit him. "Majin Buu's trying to get an evaluation of how many survivors are left down on the planet."

His announcement was met by loud gasps from some of the others.

"But why is he doing it?" Kuririn asked. "Surely he can't get rid of all those people left down on Earth so quickly."

"Yes, but you forget," Dende said, looking grim, "with Majin Buu, just about anything is possible."

With some feeling very unsettled by Dende's comment, they all went back to watching Majin Buu, who was still sauntering around the tower. He was so engrossed into what he was doing, that he paid no attention to the woman who was struggling wildly against a giant man to get free, or to the dark-haired young man who was intently watching every move he made. After a few long tense moments, Majin Buu had rounded the entire palace and returned back to the front, where he stopped in the exact place he'd landed in.

His audience watched him uneasily, waiting to see what Majin Buu was about to do. Eventually, he swivelled his head around to lock gazes with them, he broke out into a vicious grin.

"Watch this," he told them then swerved back around to stare down at the world beneath. Following those words, Buu erupted into demented laughter while his power flared around his body. Then a myriad of comet-like ki blasts erupted from his hands, arching over the Lookout down towards the unprotected planet and what few survivors left below.

* * *

Chaos and destruction broke loose on Earth once again, as Majin Buu's energy blasts fell from the sky like rain and showered destructively all over the planet. The people who'd been fortunate enough to have escape Buu's wrath from his earlier rampage couldn't escape this time. Nothing was safe, not women, children, man, or beast. No, strike that- not all man and beast. Though it seemed that Buu had been attacking the planet's remaining populace rather indiscriminately, four of the very limited survivors just happened to be a man with three eyes and his pale-faced companion, and the other two were a certain bushy-haired man with blue eyes and a puppy the evil Majin had once called his friends.

* * *

Juuhachi-gou and Amara had almost reached the room where Goten and Koji were sleeping in, when they realized that something was going on outside of the palace. For one thing, the whole palace was rocking violently, something that didn't really harm impervious women such as these two. And another thing, the once blue sky had suddenly turned into an omnious dark pink. Wondering what in the world was going on, the two quickly rushed over to the railing and looked downward. The Saiyajin no Oujo and the Jinzouningen were both equally surprised to discover Majin Buu launching ki blasts into the air, though they thankfully weren't hitting the others but were aiming towards the world beneath the Lookout.

"What in the world is that bastard up to now?" Juuhachi-gou wondered.

"Yeah, it's pretty stupid to just waste energy like that by randomly firing energy blasts," Amara said, scrutinizing the evil djinn.

Juuhachi-gou's eyes flew wide as a sudden realization kicked in.

"Oh, no!" she said. "Now I get what he's doing!"

"What do you mean?" Amara wanted to know.

Turning to her rival, Juuhachi-gou answered, "He's trying to kill all the survivors below with one attack.

Amara's jaw dropped in an uncharacteristic display of shock.

"Is that even possible?" she asked. "Can he really pull that off without destroying the planet in the process?"

"With flawless accuracy and precision, it can be done," Juuhachi-gou knowledgeably informed the Oujo.

Amara snorted in irritation. "Well, isn't that just fantastic?" she said tartly. "Come on. Let's hurry up and wake those brats up, so we can get inside the chamber."

Nodding in agreement to the suggestion, Juuhachi-gou followed her rival as she turned away from the scene transpiring below and moved further up the hallway. A few moments later, the two arrived in the room where Koji and Goten had been taking a nap, along with Hoshi. As they were entering, Hoshi was stirring from her sleep, and a second later, her eyes opened and she sat up. She looked directly at her mother and Juuhachi-gou.

"Mama, what's going on?" she asked. "And what's causing all that noise?"

"No time to explain," Amara said. "We need to the boys to wake up, so they can become Gotenji."

So saying, Amara and Juuhachi-gou made their ways over to the two boys sprawled out on the floor and sleeping loudly, with Juuhachi-gou trying to wake up her son and Amara attempting the same with Goten.

"Koji! Koji! Koji wake up!" Juuhachi-gou shouted down at her son, while shaking his shoulders. Beside her, Amara was doing the same to Goten.

"Mmm, chicken," Goten slurred in his slumber.

Amara scowled down irritably at the sleeping half-Saiyajin.

"He would dream of food at a time like this," she grumbled. She shook him even harder. "This is no time to sleep, brat! Wake up!"

Back outside on the courtyard, Majin Buu had finally finished his assault on the planet as he powered down, lowering his arm. Almost immediately after he did that, the sky turned back blue. He grinned in fiendish satisfaction as he knew that none of the humans who'd been left down there had survived his perfectly-executed attack. Majin Buu then turned back around to face his quarry, who were all staring back at him equally appalled. He flashed that wicked grin at them again, giving them a peek of his sharp white teeth.

"It's done," he said, cupping his elbows and cracking his head side to side. All the while, he still wore that grin. "I've just killed every human down below."

Majin Buu's casual announcement was responded with simultaneous horrified gasps and stunned looks. Bulma lowered her head and clutched her daughter closer against her, trying to fight off the tears that were screaming to come out of her eyelids at the announcement. Her parents were gone. Yamucha saw her and immediately placed a consoling arm around his wife and daughter. Beside them, Videl was near tears as well after realizing her father had been one of those people who'd been left down on the planet...and now he was gone. Standing by his lonesome, Juunana-gou was staring at Majin Buu in open shock. Not because he was unable to believe that the djinn had just actually annihilated all of the planet's populace- without counting him and everyone else on the Lookout. But actually because he could've been one of those people down there. He was very glad to have reunited with his sister when he did indeed.

Meanwhile, Piccolo had dropped to his knees on the tiled floor of the courtyard, his shoulders slumped with shame and guilt. Piccolo snarled and gritted his teeth. This was his fault! He unleashed that beast onto all those unsuspecting and innocent people. And they're all gone because of his 'brilliant' idea.

"People of Chikyuu, forgive me for my actions. I promise with every fiber of my body that I'll wish you all back to life," he vowed softly to himself.

"H-he's actually kiled them all them all," Dende stammered, aghast. "The people who were still down below a-are dead."

Majin Buu's grin widened at the looks of despair on the faces of his quarry. "How'd you like that? I call that the Special Human Genocide Attack, and I made it all just for you!"

As Buu cackled at the horrified looks his comment earned him, while standing back to his feet, Piccolo glared over at him with more hatred than he ever looked at Goku with back when they were enemies. If he had the power to do so, he would've killed Majin Buu right where he stood. Actually, he had such power to do it, he would've destroyed Majin Buu as soon as he came out of that egg, or probably before so. Unfortunately, another problem had presented itself before him. Since Majin Buu was able to wipe out all the humans below in one strike, there was really nothing to keep Buu distracted while Amara and Juuhachi-gou and Goten and Koji were training inside the Room of Spirit and Time. He knew it wouldn't be long now, before Majin Buu started asking...

As if he'd been reading Piccolo's thoughts, Majin Buu looked directly over at Piccolo, that sour-serious expression of his returning to his face.

"Now that I've killed all those people, I want my challengers brought to me!" he barked.

"No, they're still not ready to fight yet," Piccolo told him. "Give them one more hour?"

Majin Buu glared at Piccolo fiercely, as that was not what he just wanted to hear. "I said I don't like to wait! And I won't keep waiting!"

"But you have to!" Piccolo said. "Listen, I know how you like to have a decent challenge, and unless you don't wait for an whole hour, you won't get a very satisfactory fight from your challengers! Do you really want to have waited all this time and not get one of the best fights you've ever had in your life out of the deal?"

The Namekseijin, and basically every braced themselves in case Majin Buu didn't like the overture and went psychotic on them. It sure seemed that way for a long moment, as Majin Buu was still lucky very sulky at the idea of having to wait. However, to everyone's amazement Buu didn't. To further surprise them, Majin Buu was actually considering what Piccolo had just said as his eyes flicked upward thoughtfully.

Then...

"What is this hour you keep speaking of? And how long is it?" he queried brusquely, twisting his head upside down, his eyes focused on Piccolo.

"Look," Piccolo said simply as he flung his right arm out, and in a blur of energy, a large hourglass appeared in his clawed hand. "See this? When the sand hits the bottom, then an hour would've gone by," he elucidated while sitting the hourglass down between them.

Buu unwounded his head then straightened it as he stared down at the hourglass with disgusted skepticism. "I don't believe you!"

Behind he and Piccolo, Videl glared down at the monster that took her father's life, growing annoyed with his impatience and wanting nothing more than to kill him so she could avenge her father. But she knew she'd only be signing her death warrant.

"What's wrong? Afraid to wait an hour?" Videl asked disdainfully, her hands clenching into fists, as she was no longer able to hold her tongue.

Both Piccolo and Majin Buu swivelled their heads around towards the daughter of the World Champion. Piccolo stared at her out of shock at her outburst and Majin Buu-out of anger for insinuating HE was afraid. Grimacing, Majin Buu growled warningly towards Videl, who met his scowl without fear.

Piccolo's eyes widened when he suddenly caught a glimpse of the small flicker of pink light in Buu's right palm. "No wait! You can't kill her, she's Mr. Satan's child! Mr. Satan's child wants you to wait!"

Majin Buu stiffened at that info, his eyes briefly flying wide. Then, to make sure the green fighter wasn't trying to trick him, he sniffed at the air in Videl's direction, and was both surprised and angered to discover that the green man had been telling the truth. The annoying, young woman really was the wimpy man's brat, however that still made little difference to him.

"Yes, I believe you," he replied, "the girl has Satan's scent... but in the end, I really don't care. Because within one hour, I'm going to start to killing you all, including that girl." With that said, he reabsorbed the diminutive energy back into his body, and then directed his attention onto the hourglass.

Piccolo let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed he'd calmed things down for now. But a deep gut feeling and experience told him it wouldn't last for long. Behind him, Videl had cocked an eyebrow as she was wondering what her father had to do with Majin Buu. There was only one way to find out.

"Piccolo-san? How does that _bakemono_ know my Papa?" she inquired, her eyes trained on Buu's back.

Without turning around to face her Piccolo answered, "Despite being such a blowhard, your father's quite a remarkable man, actually. He did the one thing that no one else could ever do, and that was tame Majin Buu of his destructive tendencies. But I'm afraid that power Mr. Satan had over the other Buu won't work on this one."

"My Papa...he did all of that?" Videl said, secretly amazed to hear that her father had done such a thing...

Meanwhile, Majin Buu had crouched down in front of the hourglass and continued to wait.

* * *

Gohan once again fought off the urge to let out a sigh of boredom as he remained in the lotus position. THE SAME STUPID POSITION HE'D BEEN IN FOR WHAT FELT LIKE FOREVER! Majin Buu was still alive on his planet and could kill his family and friends at any time. But he couldn't go help because he had to wait for his hidden powers to activate. It would just be so simple for him to get extremely angry like Cell had made him.

The half-Saiyajin's handsome face twisted into a fierce scowl when his gaze stretched out between the small distance between he and Rou Kaioushin. His lips curled into utter exasperation when he saw a bubble swelling then deflating from out the corner of his mouth. The old man was asleep again!

"Hey you! Wake up!" he barked. The bubble popped, and the god opened his eyes, blinking to clear his vision. "Can't you stay awake long enough for us to get through this!"

"What are you talking about? I wasn't asleep, again I was in deep meditation," Rou Kaioushin lied.

Gohan wasn't buying it. "Whatever! I sure don't snore when I'm deep meditation!"

Rou Kaioushin frowned at the teenager. "Will you shut up and focus your energy on waking those dormant powers of yours instead of using it to nag me! The more you whine, the less time you might have to go save your family and friends back on Earth!"

Gohan grunted in frustration, as he knew Rou Kaioushin had a point and so he closed his eyes again.

Over by the tree, the others turn to East Kaioushin as he stares off into the distance with a look of horror on his face.

"Kaioushin-sama, what's wrong?" Kibito asked worriedly.

"I don't believe it," Kaioushin murmured. "All of those people...they're gone!"

"What people?" Goku asked.

"I felt a great number of kis diminish back on Earth just now!"

There was more than one gasp of shock. Gohan stared at the god in quiet consternation.

"Don't tell me that the Earth is about to be destroyed!" Goku said.

Kaioushin shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

"Then how could Majin Buu do that?" Kibito asked.

"I don't know," Kaioushin replied, shaking his head.

Gohan growled impatiently in the back of his throat, then he glared at Rou Kaioushin.

"Aren't you done yet!" he asked. "Shouldn't you already be done?"

"Eh?" Rou Kaioushin replied. "No, I'm not done. That just means you still have a lot of potential energy left."

Gohan lost it.

"STOP SCREWING WITH ME!" he bellowed lividly, rising to his feet; his power blazed around him in white flames to gain Rou Kaioushin's attention, which he did, along with his father, East Kaioushin, and Kibito.

Gohan had been so lost in his rage that he hadn't realized he had the whole planet shuddering violently-his dormant powers were fully awake now, swirling around him in a vicious tempest. Overhead, the once blue sky had turned pitch-black, his ebony hair flickering a menacing pink. Over by the tree, Goku, East Kaioushin, and Kibito watched on in astonishment; Rou Kaioushin seemed to be the only one unfazed by the scene as he stared up at the furious half-Saiyajin with a calm expression.

"How the hell am I supposed to beat Majin Buu if you-" Gohan trailed off a few moments later, as reality finally caught up to him. The fierceness vanished from Gohan's face, and he powered down as his dark eyes went wide in realization. A startled gasp fell from his lips as he stared down at himself in marvel- he hadn't never produced such incredible power even when he was a Super Saiyajin Two. The ritual, it worked!

Rou Kaioushin sighed in boredom from the scene Gohan had just caused, though his mouth curved smugly. "Now that you're done with your little light show, mind sitting back down so we can get this over with? You're wasting time"

"Hai, I'm sorry about that, Kaioushin-sama!" Gohan answered quickly and politely. Seeing that Rou Dai Kaioushin was really the real deal, he eagerly flopped back down in lotus position. "Really, I am."

"Hmph!" Rou Kaioushin said.

* * *

Koji and Goten were wide awake now, as they were taking a first look at the new and improved Majin Buu.

"Whoa! That's really Majin Buu down there?" Koji exclaimed.

"Yeah, where'd all the rest of him go?" Hoshi asked.

"He sure must be eating a lotta salads to get like that," Goten added.

"It's a lot more complicated than that kids," said the gruff voice of Piccolo from behind them.

After the boys were finally awakened, Piccolo had sent telepathic instructions for Amara and Juuhachi-gou to bring Koji and Goten to the upper most tower of the palace. He wanted them to take a look at what they were up against now, and after doing so, Koji and Goten was completely dismayed.

"As you boys can see, we're playing a whole new ball game now," Piccolo said gravely. "While you two were asleep, Majin Buu has transformed into something even more dangerous than he already was. In the past, you two played with Majin Buu, however playing with him is just something you can't afford to do this time around. Do you understand?"

Koji and Goten gulped, and then nodded understandingly. Piccolo then looked over at Juuhachi-gou and Amara.

"And do you two understand as well?" he asked them. "You must take your fight with Majin Buu seriously at all times."

Juuhachi-gou nodded.

"We know that already, Namek," Amara snapped, not liking been told something she already knew as if she was stupid. "The android and I aren't kids, too!"

"Uh. Well. Good," Piccolo said, sounding a bit lame after just being told off by the fiery princess. "He cleared his throat and continued. "Listen, I'm sending you four inside the Seishin to train. Because for every minute that passes out here, six hours will pass inside the Room of Spirit and Time. And hopefully...that'll be enough."

On that note, Piccolo whirled around and started to leave, with everyone falling into foostep behind him. Goten was the last one, however, as he was starting to move away from the handrail, some strange instinct kicked to life inside him. It told him that it was of the utmost importance that he turn back around and look outside again. He listened to it, and quickly walked back over to handrail. As his peered downward, his eyes widened when he saw his mother stalking bravely towards Majin Buu, her face contorted in a look of cold fury.

"Okaasan, what are you doing?" he shouted.

Hearing his urgent shout, everyone else quickly rushed back over to where he was and see what was happening below.

Meanwhile, Chichi looked absolutely ready to kill as she stormed angrily over to Majin Buu, her fists clenched and her teeth gritted. Although Majin Buu could quite clearly hear her angry footsteps swiftly approaching him, he still didn't bother to look up at her as watching the sand fall slowly but surely to the bottom of the hourglass was more important, even if it was annoying as it was keeping him from his challengers.

As soon as Chichi reached Majin Buu, unable to hold onto the reins of her temper, she slapped Buu's face as hard and viciously as she could. The force of the slap made Buu's head turn very, very slightly to the side, though. Everyone else on the Lookout were giving her stunned looks, unable to believe what they'd just witness her do.

"Chichi, no!" Piccolo exclaimed. "What is that woman thinking?"

"Does she want to get kill?" Amara wondered in disbelief.

Boredly, Majin Buu finally looked up at Chichi, who glared ferociously back at him.

"Bastard!" she snarled. "I'll never forgive you for what you did! You took my oldest son away from me, and you don't even care about what you did! Give him back!"

Throughout Chichi's entire furious tirade, Majin Buu had looked at her with the dull expression of someone watching paint dry. Then, all of a sudden, he asked her," Do you like eggs?"

"Huh?" Chichi answered, taken off guard by Buu's unexpected question. It was because of this that she didn't expect what happened next.

Grinning crookedly, Majin Buu fired a Henka Beam at Chichi. She shrieked horridly as she was engulfed by the power of Buu's eccentric attack, unable to move a single part of her body. In the next instant, right before everyone's eyes, Chichi was transformed into an egg. It didn't end there, however. Showcasing his pronounced mean streak, Buu lashed out with his left leg and stomped his foot down cruelly on the egg, shattering it into pieces.

While Majin Buu cared very little for what he'd just done and turned his gaze back toward the hourglass, everyone were appalled by the heinous act he'd just committed. However, no one was more horrified than Goten was, after witnessing his mother getting killed right before his very eyes. First his brother had been taken away from him by Buu, then his father had leave him to go back to Other World, and nos his mother was gone...he felt so alone...and also felt so utterly enraged.

In the next instant, Goten's face contorted into an expression of rage, and his whole body shook with unbearable rage.

"He won't get away with this! I'll make him pay!" Goten said angrily.

Koji and Hoshi, as well as everyone else in the room, stared in surprise when the normally eternally cheerful boy had leaped onto the handrail. He was actually aobut to go down there and fight Buu by himself. Luckily, he didn't get very far.

"Goten, you stop right there!" Piccolo called urgently.

"But he killed my mother!" Goten replied. Though no one could see his face because he was turning in the other direction, it sounded like he was crying. And knowing how sensitive Goku's youngest son was, it wasn't really anything too surprising.

"Look Goten, I know it had to hurt for you to have just witness that," Piccolo said, sounding genuinely sympathetic. "But if you truly want to get revenge against Majin Buu, you must do it with using Fusion. It's the only way.

A pause followed Piccolo's monologue.

Then, slowly, Goten stepped off the railing, and muttered, "Okay, Piccolo. I'll do it your way."

"Good," Piccolo said in approval. He then glanced back over at Juuhachi-gou and Amara. "It's time for you four to get to the Seishin now, and this is how you get there..."

While Piccolo was giving the women swift directions to the Room of Spirit and Time, Koji and Hoshi saw Goten was still looking downcast and both tried their best to cheer him up.

"Hey, don't worry Goten-san. You, Koji, Mama, and Juuhachi-gou will get Majin Buu for what he did to her mom," she said assuringly.

"That's right, Goten!" Koji agreed. "Majin Buu's already killed someone that each of us loved. That only means that we have to fight him even harder."

"Right," Goten sniffled. As he then raised his head, his eyes, though were still wet from crying, were ablaze with determination. "That's exactly how we have to fight."

After Piccolo had finished telling Juuhachi-gou and Amara where they needed to go, everyone walked off in separate directions. Piccolo, Dende, Mr. Popo, Hoshi, and Kuririn had walked off in the direction that led back to the outside, and the two half-Saiyajin, the Oujo, and the Jinzouningen made their way in the direction that would lead them to the Room of Spirit and Time.

Some time had passed since Chichi's gruesome death at Majin Buu's hands, and the grim silence that had already been hovering over the Lookout had grown even grimmer since. The usually cheerful Gyuu Mao was looking extremely downcast after witnessing his only child getting killed. He'd tried his best to stop his daughter, but that ferocious temper of hers had been too much even for him. It was something Chichi had inherited from her mother. Piccolo, Dende, Mr. Popo, Kuririn, and Hoshi had soon returned to the courtyard, and Piccolo immediately told them that the four Fusion partners were training inside the Room of Spirit and Time, so all hope was not lost. Though, with the way things were going, some of them weren't all that convinced by the Nameksejin's words.

In the mean time, Majin Buu was still waiting by the hourglass. It was remarkable how patient he was being, as the sand slowly descended from the top to the bottom of the hourglass...or so it seemed he was being patient. In fact, Majin Buu was beginning to quickly grow annoyed and impatient with the hourglass; it was as if it was deliberately filling up the bottom of the hourglass so slowly, just to distract him from what he originally came to the Lookout in the first place: to face his two promised challengers. Well, he wasn't going to wait anymore!

"That's it! NO MORE WAITING!" Majin Buu declared furiously, rising to his feet. His annoyance over having to be made to wait for so long made his power snap to life around him, sending out waves of energy that spread out all over the courtyard, demolishing the hourglass in the process and whipping up ferocious winds that lashed out angrily at everyone, nearly knocking some of them to their feet.

"What are you doing, Majin Buu?" Piccolo bellowed at the genie, while trying to maintain his footing. "It's only been half an hour!"

"I DON'T CARE!" Majin Buu bellowed back. To show his point, he raised his hand and fired a single blast of strong energy at the spot just a mere couple of inches away from Piccolo's feet. "Gimme strong fighters now, or I'll kill you!"

_*He means it! It seems I can't stall him any longer,* _Piccolo mused in cold realization. He weighed his options, but saw no way out of this. Piccolo sighed, thinking, _*I guess I have no choice, then.* _

Looking Buu straight in the eye, Piccolo said aloud, "As you wish. I will take you to your challengers."

* * *

In the center of the Room of Spirit and Time stood a lone figure. Abruptly, a sphere of light burst from the person's body, escalating in size and radiance until that whole section of the room was flooded with light. After a few moments, the light receded, and left in the place of the single person were now two very sweaty young boys.

Both Koji and Goten flopped down on the ground in total exhaustion, breathing heavily after completing a very long training session. While they were tired, at the same time the young warriors felt quite good. The two exchange grins.

"Whew! I've never trained so hard before," Koji remarked, taking the back of his right arm to mop the sweat off his forehead. "Not even with Papa!"

"But it's all going to pay off," Goten said, still grinning. "Majin Buu is going to be very surprised at how strong we are! Going beyond a normal Super Saiyajin is so awesome!"

"Eh! So you little tykes have also pushed passed the Super Saiyajin wall?" asked a familiar voice.

The boys looked up to see Amara and Juuhachi-gou approaching them.

"Mama!"

"Obasan!"

"From all that commotion we heard over hear, I take it you two have working quite hard," Juuhachi-gou remarked.

Both Goten and her son nodded.

Koji grinned. "Yeah! We've gotten so strong now, we probably won't even need to transform!"

"When the fighting begin, you'll see that Juumara has improved quite a lot as well," Juuhachi-gou replied.

"That idiot will never know what hit him!" Amara said, smiling fiercely.

_"Attention, everyone!" _Piccolo's voice abruptly rung loudly in the air above them, and everyone peered upward.

"Piccolo? Where are you?" Juuhachi-gou asked, looking this way that.

_*Look, I wanted to warn you all that Majin Buu has refused to wait on you to get through, and that we're heading your way!*_

"What!" the four exclaimed together.

"But we just got through training!" Goten protested. "I'm pretty tired!"

"Me, too!" Koji said.

Piccolo suddenly chuckled. _"You can relax. Yes I'm bringing him to you, but I'm deliberately taking the long way. So do what you have to do."_

Juuhachi-gou, Koji, and Goten looked relieved. Amara only smiled nastily.

"Just bring him on whenever you can," she said smugly. "I have so much in store for that stupid bastard when he gets here!"

* * *

Just as Piccolo had told the four warriors, he had pointedly led Buu the long way in an desperate attempt to stall some more for Earth's last hope against the demon. All while, he had been completely aware of the group following behind them in secret. Piccolo's ploy wouldn't be able to work for long, because with Buu being as impatient as he already was, when Piccolo had offered him the chance to eat or sleep before having to the face the Fusion Warriors, Buu had responded with a nasty threat of breaking him in half if he didn't hurry up, which forced him to get Buu to the door that led to the Room of Spirit and Time quicker than he wanted to.

_*I sure pray that they're all ready for this,* _he thought bleakly. _*Amara sure sounded so sure of yourself, but that could've easily been the usual Saiyajin arrogance. Please don't let this be all for not.*_

"We're here," Piccolo said in a flat tone.

Majin Buu only grinned in malicious anticipation. "Open the door!"

Even now Piccolo moved at a slow pace as he moved towards the door. Pulling it open, the Namekseijin turned back to the fused djinn and gestured him to enter. Not needing to be told twice, Buu immediately shuffled inside the room, with Piccolo following him in and closing the door behind them. The others had drew up in front of the door.

"And there they go," Muten Roshi intoned grimly.

"It's all up to Juumara and Gotenji now," Bulma said.

Meanwhile, inside the Room of Spirit and Time, Piccolo stayed back by the door as the djinn stepped forward in search of his opponents. His search wasn't very long, as he found the four of them standing in the middle room, each looking ready for a battle. Buu blinked at them in incomprehension.

"Huh? These are my challengers?" Buu asked incredulously, turning toward Piccolo. "Women and children? What happened to those two fighters?"

"Hey, freak! Your attention should be over here!" Amara taunted. She got the result she wanted, too, as Buu immediately whirled his pink glare on her.

"No more running!" Koji declared. "We fight this time, so prepared to get your butt kicked!"

Buu's upper lip curled into a snarl. Without saying a word, the two sets of Fusion partners lined themselves up by each other, preparing to become one person. But just Goten and Koji were about to do the Fusion Dance, Buu suddenly launched himself across the room and slammed a punch into Koji's jaw, knocking him to the floor.

"Koji!" Juuhachi-gou exclaimed worriedly.

As her son set up holding the right side of his face, he looked more angry than hurt.

"Bakana! What do you think you're doing?" Koji scolded the bewildered looking Buu. "You just can't go attacking people that way. We weren't ready!"

Buu watched in bemusement as Koji got back into place beside Goten to try it again.

"FUSION HAAAA!"

Meanwhile, a familiar mixed aura surrounded both Amara and Juuhachi-gou, as their minds linked.

"You are me..." Juuhachi-gou said.

"And I am you..." Amara replied.

"We are one!" the two women chorused.

While Piccolo put an arm out to block the resultant explosion of light, Buu stared into it, unblinking. A moment later, the light died down, unveiling both Juumara and Gotenji. The demon's expression immediately twisted into wicked delight.

"Ah, there you are! My two opponents!" he enthused. Buu grinned at Gotenji. "I remember you, I beat you to pieces!"

"Oi, don't go getting so confident, bastard!" Gotenji snapped, face burning red with anger at that reminder. With a deep breath, he calmed himself. "This fight is going to be different from the last one, because this time I'm fighting serious!"

On that line, Gotenji charged across the room. Upon getting point-blank in Buu's face, Gotenji instantly went on the attack. He grinned arrogantly as he battered Majin Buu's face with a chain of snapping, lightning fast blows, turning him into a punching bag. Majin Buu just stood there, soaking in Gotenji's relentless assault on him. It was right after Gotenji had hit Buu with another hard right cross, that he looked down arrogantly to admire his handiwork, but only to discover that none of his blows had had no affect on the Majin. There was no bruises or any other damage inflicted on his face after all of that. Majin Buu stared out the corner of his eye at Gotenjii irritably.

"I thought you said you were going to be serious," Majin Buu said, sounding almost accusatory.

As he floated away from the Majin, Gotenji looked mildly unsettled that his blows had absolutely no affect on Majin Buu.

"Damn you! You really are one tough bastard!" he said.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	49. The Real Battle Begins

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but the original characters in this story are mine.**

**Chapter Forty-Nine: The Real Battle Begins**

* * *

"KIIIYAAAAHHH!" Gotenji's battle cry rung loudly throughout the room as he sprung at Buu again. The Fusion grinned very Saiyajin-like as he hammered the evil Majin's face with even more mountain-shattering blows. But at a closer inspection, one could once again see no trace of pain on the his face. Realizing this, Gotenji halted his assault and growled irritably when he saw Majin Buu staring down at him with a bored expression. Again he was having no affect on the monster!

"Was that you...being serious?" Buu asked

For a moment, Gotenji frowned up dismayingly at the demon fighter. Then he laughed it off.

"Serious? Duh! Of course I wasn't!" he said. "If I had, you would be dead right now!"

_*He's completely bluffing!* _Piccolo realized, his face creased from worrying at the prospect of it all.

Majin Buu frowned sourly at the child warrior. "Then stop wasting time and get serious!"

"Oi! Forget about me, ne?"

Buu spun around just in time to be met by a wicked right hook from Juumara. The blow sent him flying backwards uncontrollably, much to Piccolo's delight and Gotenji's chagrin. The Majin regained control of himself and flipped over onto his feet.

"Instead of fighting a child, try me on for size!" Juumara said, lowering into a fighting stance.

"Hey!" Gotenji protested.

Surprisingly, Majin Buu didn't quickly go into a fit of murderous rage like one would think, after getting caught off guard by the Jinzouningen-Saiyajin hybrid. Instead, he grinned at the woman in malicious glee.

"Yes, I will take you on!" he said. "You are stronger than the boy, even if you are still a weak Earthling!"

Juumara glared ferociously at Majin Buu.

"Bastard! How dare you try to put me in the same league as a Earthling!" she snarled, with both Amara and Juuhachi-gou trying to speak out through their avatar at the same time. "I may be here because of the result of Fusion, but I am still the Princess of all Saiyajin! I'll show you I'm not some mere Earthling you're dealing with!"

Suiting words to action, Juumara surged toward Buu and vanished. Reappearing over in the air at the level of his face, the hybrid delivered ten vicious kicks to the Majin's face in the span it took to count to three, hitting a quick backflip afterwards to top things off with a final straight kick to the face. Buu was sent flying again, and the determined Juumara pursued him.

_*Maybe we still have a chance after all!* _Piccolo thought with renewed hope.

Gotenji saw the Namekseijin's expression and pouted.

_*Hmph. Piccolo-san's sure impressed with mother,* _he mused enviously, while watching Juumara continue to fight Buu, seeming to have a little bit more success than he did. Gotenji's face hardened in determination. _*I'll show them! I'll show mother, Piccolo, and Majin Buu I'm not someone to be overlooked!*_

Meanwhile, up in the air, Juumara launches herself at Buu for a flying kick. The demon was ready for her, however, as evident by the arrogant smirk on his face. Just as soon as she reached him, Buu stepped a bit to the side to dodge strike, then he latched onto her right ankle. The room churned around at a dizzying rate as Majin Buu spun the fused woman around once, twice, thrice. With a nasty laugh, Buu carried Juumara back to earth to drive her hard into floor.

"Juumara!" Piccolo said, dismayed.

Grinning wickedly, Buu advanced toward Juumara, who was pulling herself back up to her feet. Then, Gotenji appeared between the demon and Juumara, and lunged forward.

"DYNAMITE KICK BOOMERANG!"

Gotenji caught his foe in his side with a flying roundhouse kick, touching down a short distance behind him. A moment later, Majin Buu went up in an explosion.

The Saiyajin warrior took on a triumphant pose.

Both Piccolo and Juumara watched it all quietly. But quickly to their disappointment, the small mushroom smoke that had billowed up after the discharge vanished to reveal an unscathed Majin Buu. Annoyed, Gotenji howled and rushed towards the powerful Majin again. Piccolo and Juumara watched in blinking stupor as Gotenji assaulted Majin Buu with techniques neither of them had ever seen nor heard of. Each attack the child Fusion administrated, they were pronounced with goofy titles and proved very ineffective against the demon. There was even one moment where Majin Buu had actually tried to direct the boy on where to hit him, which annoyed him to no end. During which, the chamber underwent a change, turning from a bland room to a frozen landscape. Time after time, Gotenji attacked Majin Buu and couldn't mar or seriously injure him.

"What the hell is he doing out there?" Piccolo asked, dumbfounded as a sweat drop rolled down the side of his face.

"That worthless brat!" Juumara hissed in annoyance, Amara's personality shining through her at that moment. "Are all his techniques this useless?"

"INOSHISHI ATTACK!" Gotenji shouted.

Like his attack suggested, Gotenji hunched over and placed both his index fingers on the side of head like tusks, and then charged. He'd gotten an arms-length towards Majin Buu, before the demon's head tentacle lengthened out and wrapped around Gotenji's body. The Fusion's eyes broadened as he was tossed several feet away and crashed face-first into the floor with a jerk of Buu's head. Gotenji howled in pain from being dropped hard on his face, which was coupled with accidentally biting his tongue.

"We are so doomed," Piccolo groaned, covering his face with his hand dramatically and shaking his head.

Juumara glanced his way as she heard him, then she turned back to the fight in front of her. She scowled; she had to put a stop to all this foolishness at once!

After spitting out blood from the wound on his tongue, Gotenji turned over and sat up. He was about to get back up and attack Majin Buu again, but paused in place on the floor, his eyes flying saucer wide. Body paralyzed with apprehension when Majin Buu appeared right in front of him, right hand outstretched, a small ball of pink energy hovering in his palm. Majin Buu stared down at Gotenji with a crazed expression, beaming unpleasantly as the orb expanded to semi-size. Gotenji was done for.

"Goodbye!" Majin Buu said, preparing to launch his final strike on the very annoying child fusion. However, before he could let go with the ki blast-

"TSUNAMI CANNON!"

Majin Buu swivelled his head around when he heard the shriek above him. His eyes widened in surprise before a tidal wave literally slammed down on him viciously, carrying him further past Gotenji where it deposited him unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Juumara has the power over water?" Piccolo said, finding himself surprised once again. It was going to be interesting to see just what else she could do.

Scrambling back up to his feet in hastily, Majin Buu fixated his singeing gaze onto his assaulter hovering in the icy-blue sky. But then he became aware of the appearance of his "pruned-up" body, staring down at himself in shock. Glaring back up at Juumara when he heard her chuckle, Buu put his right thumb in his mouth and blew on it, inflating his body back to its original self. With an enraged shout, Majin Buu darted into the air to engage in battle with Juumara.

Gotenji whirled his head around just in time to see his mother and Majin Buu going into a bout of aggressive punches and kicks. Not wanting to be stay out of the action, Gotenji rocketed upward to assist his mother. But before he could even swing a blow, Majin Buu had seen him coming and twisted his right leg behind him and extending it, catching Gotenji in the face. The young warrior was sent spinning across the floor. Jumping back up on his feet, Gotenji tried to get into the fight once more, only to get met with a harsh elbow to the face by Majin Buu. And when Gotenji tried again, it had become clear to the blended boy that Majin Buu didn't even want to fight him-not out of fear, just out of plain arrogance.

"Gotenji! Just stay down! You're not really helping, anyway!" Juumara yelled down at her son after she was able to part away from Majin Buu for a fleeting moment. Fleeting was the operative word, as Majin Buu hastily vaulted at her again, then there came another violent exchange of blows.

"Perhaps she's right," Piccolo told Gotenji. "Maybe you should just leave the fighting up to her."

Gotenji seethed at the words. It was affronting enough that Majin Buu didn't consider him a challenge to him at all, but even his half-mother-half aunt and Piccolo didn't think so either. Well, he would show them, all of them! He was Gotenji, the fused son of two of the greatest fighters in the universe and he refused to be ignored. The Goku and the Vegeta in him wouldn't allow him to just idly sit by while a battle was being fought, especially once considering the future of the Earth. Clenching his fists at his sides and flinging his head back, Gotenji let out a scream of defiance.

Majin Buu and Juumara were about to go for another round of blows, when they heard Gotenji. Looking down, they both watched as golden flames and yellow electricity erupted from the Fusion's body and silhouetted his muscular form, his jet-black hair flashing a gold-white fire, and his eyes shifting turquoise. Majin Buu stared blinkingly at Gotenji.

"I didn't know they could go Super Saiyajin after fusing!" Piccolo said, very impressed. "Can Juumara do that, too?"

"Now, that's more like it," Juumara remarked as she regarded her son.

Back on the ground Gotenji smirked up dangerously at Majin Buu.

"Now I'm really serious!" Gotenji declared. "You're not dealing with regular Gotenji anymore, you're now looking at Super Gotenji!"

Shouting, he leaped into the air and made a beeline towards Majin Buu. Shifting Super Saiyajin herself (confirming Piccolo's question from earlier), Juumara came in at Buu from the other side.

* * *

Outside, the Room of Spirit and Time, the rest of the gang stood in anticipation. All of them wrapped up in their own thoughts, all save for young Bra who was still deep in slumber; With the battle for their world in stake, sleep was very elusive to the others. Everyone was on edge because they had no real concept of the events unfolding within the Seishin. They were a little worried if Juumara and Gotenji might be getting the worse of the fight. Sure, the two Fusions were powerful, but just how so was Majin Buu now after his transformation?

"So, how do you think they're doing in there?" Yamucha whispered.

"Well, I'm hoping they're winning," Kuririn answered in an uneasy tone. "If Buu gets past them, then we're toast!" he said gravely, trying to conceal his shudder at the unpleasant possibilities of things Majin Buu could do to them if he was allowed the chance.

"Of course they're winning, Papa!" Hoshi told him confidently. "They can transform into Super Saiyajin if they get into a jam. Also, they're probably even stronger then they were before after training in the Room of Spirit and Time."

"Hoshi's right," Bulma agreed. "We've got to have confidence in Gotenji and Juumara...they're our last hope." Her expression looked bleak after the last part of her sentence

"You know, there is a way Majin Buu wouldn't be able to escape the Room of Spirit and Time," Dende spoke up from where he leaned against wall, closing his eyes as he briefly tapped the butt of his bo staff on the tiled floor. His dark eyes reopened immediately as he finished his thought, "If anyone manages to destroy the door at any time during the battle, then their would be no escape. Then Majin Buu will be trapped in that dimension."

"That's relieving," Muten Roshi sighed.

Bulma scowled at the elder man. "Relieving? How the hell is that relieving? What if Gotenji and Juumara do defeat Majin Buu and the door is destroyed? Then they wouldn't be able to get out and tell us the happy news!"

"Actually...if Majin Buu has somehow managed to destroy both the door and Juumara and Gotenji and Piccolo, then we could just revive them with the Dragonballs," Dende tried to add positively, but it didn't really help.

Standing apart from the others, Juunana-gou was imperceptibly scowling after he had overheard the humans and the Namekseijin talking just then. He hadn't really liked what Dende had just said. Although he knew his sister was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, he still didn't like her to go off fighting without him there to watch her back, even if she was fused together with that Saiyajin woman.

_*Just come out safe, Sis_._ You and your kid both.*_

* * *

Back in the Room of Spirit and Time, Piccolo clenched a clawed hand and smirked in pre-triumph as he observed the battle above him. Juumara and Gotenji seemed to have the upper hand over Majin Buu, circling him like hungry wolves, then lashing out at him aggressively. The Namekseijin could barely hold his excitement; the thought of victory, something that seemed almost impossible when it came to Majin Buu just two days ago, may be within their grasp made him actually want to burst.

Holding both her hands up, Juumara crafted a Kienzan in each hand, but they looked nothing like Amara homing version or her half-husband's signature move. The Kienzan in her right hand were made entirely out of flames, and the one in her left hand was made out of ice. Juumara flung the flaming Kienzan first. Glowering in annoyance, Buu tried to bat the fiery disc away as soon as it got within his reach, only to get nasty surprise. As soon as his fist made contact, the flames lost their disc-shaped and leaped almost eagerly along his body to completely devour him, extracting what sounded like a genuine scream of pain.

"It's over, Majin Buu!" Right behind those words, Juumara tossed the second Kienzan. As soon as it made contact with the burning Majin, within a instant he turned into a solid block of ice. Grinning almost evilly, Juumara snaps her fingers, and in response the icy hunk exploded with Buu still inside.

"Yatta!" Piccolo cheered, watching the pieces of ice and Majin Buu hit the floor.

Juumara smiled triumphantly.

"Aw, man!" Gotenji complained, alighting a short distance from the inert fragments of the demon. "She took the best part! And before I could show off my best tricks, too!"

"Stop complaining," Juumara scolded, debarking beside him. "This wasn't a contest, it was a battle to the death."

"But don't you understand the aesthetics of battle?"

Juumara shook her head and sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Juumara, Gotenji! Good job!" Piccolo commended them as he started to walk his way.

All of a sudden, a fragment of Majin Buu started to move. Seeing this, the Namekseijin froze up in place at once, eyes widening.

"Behind you!" he bellowed.

The hybrid warriors looked up at Piccolo in puzzlement, then they turned around to see what he meant. They both slipped into states of astonishment when they saw remains of Majin Buu squirming with life.

"Dammit!" Juumara swore, her and Gotenji immediately drawing back into a fighting stance.

Right in front of their eyes, the remnants of the Majin assembled together, rebuilding an only too wonted figure. Soon all of Majin Buu's attributes returned, and he grinned disdainfully at Juumara.

"Is that all you got?" he mocked.

Insulted, Juumara was about to show her bizarre opponent that she haven't begun to give her all just yet. But Gotenji jumped in on the action again.

"Now's my turn!" Gotenji declared. "GALACTICA DONUT!"

Raising his right index finger, he gathered a small sphere of ki at his fingertip. Then he traced a circle over his head, forming a ring of ki. Both Juumara and Piccolo observed this with varying levels of interest, wondering what the young Saiyajin was cooking up now; Majin Buu blinked at it curiously. Spreading his arms out, the ki ring grew twice as large. With the will of his mind, he directed the ring slowly over towards the demon, who was immediately put on a guard.

"Stop!" Gotenji ordered once the ring was hovering directly over Buu. Gradually, he brought the ring down around the pink demon. Then, with a fierce grin, Gotenji slammed his fists together, causing the ring to abruptly tighten around Buu to successfully ensnare him. "Gotcha! You'll never be able to escape this unbreakable ring!"

Majin Buu bellowed at the feel of his circulation being painfully cut off, muscles bulging as he struggled to get free. With equal concentration, Gotenji did his very best to squeeze the life out of Buu.

"Could this be it...?" Piccolo wondered. "Could this be the technique that finishes Majin Buu?"

Juumara heard him, however, she didn't share his thought. It's not like she didn't want Gotenji to defeat Buu, it was just given his track record for producing feeble techinques...

_*I still say we should step in!* _mused Amara's voice from within her head.

_*No, let's give him a chance first,* _Juuhachi-gou replied. _*Who knows, this may actually work? Majin Buu seems to be having a tough time trying to break loose.*_

Just as soon as that thought crossed her mind, Majin Buu decided to drop his pretense and grinned at Gotenji, who stared back in dismay.

"Just kidding!" he mocked. Then, showing incredible strength, the Majin broke free of the supposedly inescapable attack. The broken ring with flying everywhere in showers.

While Piccolo was shocked, Juumara found herself having to dodge out of the way of some of fragments of her half-son-half-nephew's attack. When they had all faded, she glared at the boy.

"Dammit, Gotenji! Even as a Super Saiyajin your attacks are impotent!" she said irately, moving towards him again.

Cracking his neck side to side, Majin Buu then let out a vicious shriek and lunged. The Fusions tried to leap in separate directions to avoid Buu, but the fiend calculated the move, his right arm elongating, catching the female warrior in the chin with an uppercut while his forelock stretched as well and caught Gotenji in the face. The child fusion wailed as he was flung backwards, Piccolo gaped when he realized Gotenji was coming his way-BAM! Gotenji and Piccolo both went smashing into the bathroom section, leaving Majin Buu and Juumara alone to brawl.

Gotenji moaned, rubbing his throbbing head as he sat in the bathtub, his and Piccolo's collision had shifted the shower spray own as it rained over him, filling the bath-tub up half-full. Groggily, he reached behind him and twisted the knob off then let out a sight of relief. Abruptly, Piccolo emerged in front of the Fusion, spat out bathwater before whirling his black, infuriated glare onto Gotenji.

"Would you stop sitting around! Juumara needs your help!" The Namekseijin snapped, standing to his full height, still frowning down at the bleary half-Saiyajin.

Gradually regaining his composure and wits, Gotenji stood and shook the water off him like a soaking-wet dog would, Piccolo held part of his cape up as a shield while turning his body halfway. When he looked back, Gotenji looked ready for action as that Saiyajin expression of merciless joy reappeared on his face, his fists clenched at his sides combatively.

"Alright! Time to go squash a pink insect! HYAAAA!" he shouted, powering-up as he blasted out of the tub, streaking past Piccolo and unintentionally knocking him over and out of the tub.

"Damn brat!" Piccolo grumbled, regaining his footing he headed back to watch some more of the action.

"COSMIC BULLET!" Juumara shouted, unleashing a storm of comet-like ki blasts upon the demon. But to her dismay, Majin Buu stepped up his intensity to effortlessly bat each ki bolt that came his way.

Then faster than even she could follow, Majin Buu appeared in front of her to strike out at her with a flipping kick. Juumara let out a short cry as she went hurling towards the ground, Majin Buu grinned callously and dashed after the Saiyajin-Jinzouningen, not wanting her to land just yet. Moving very fast, Buu caught up to Juumara and struck on target again with a lariat, quickening her fall.

Before she could hit the earth, a blurring form came out of nowhere and caught Juumara. Majin Buu gazed blinkingly over at a smirking Gotenji as he held his mother.

Taking his eyes of Majin Buu, Gotenji looked down at his mother and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Juumara responded curtly as she escaped from Gotenji's grasp, not keen on the idea of being hold like some helpless woman. She touched down on the floor and flanked her son-nephew, both glowering at Majin Buu while he descended back to their level.

Juumara 'humphed' as she and Gotenji drew back in fighting stances. "Enough playing around, time to show him our-"

"I have a better idea!" Gotenji interrupted, dropping out of his combat pose, he moved away from his fellow Fusion warrior, smirking furtively. *_Time to unleash my number one attack_! _Kaasan and Piccolo-san will be so impressed!*_ the Saiyajin mused, smirk deepening into a devilish grin as he folded his arms then dropped them briefly.

Piccolo, Juumara, and Majin Buu watched the young boy with various expressions, all wondering what wacky attack he would come up with now. And after his previous attacks, they all knew it was bound to have a goofy name...and most likely ineffective.

Flinging his head back and clenching his fists at his sides, Gotenji bellowed, "SUPER KAMIKAZE GHOST ATTACK!"

His Super Saiyajin aura exploding and expanding around him, a circle of light lifting off his body and into the air above his head, changing the scenery of the room back to the way it originally was. Gotenji closed his ebony eyes, his cheeks widening, making it appear like he was going to vomit. He did, but not a revolting substance- a white glob instead. The three onlookers stared as the glob produced arms, then pulled a head out of its neck...

A head with the face of Gotenji...

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	50. Desperate Measures

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but the original characters in this story are mine.**

**Chapter Fifty: Desperate Measures**

* * *

The Gotenji Ghost floated abreast to its creator, both wearing matching sneers on their faces- the same sneer the late Saiyajin Prince had often donned. Gotenji's crooked grin widened when he noticed the varying levels of bewilderment on the faces of his mother-aunt, Piccolo, and his enemy; he couldn't wait to show them what his Super Kamikaze Attack could _really_ do. If they liked his other attacks, then he knew they were going to love this one.

"W-what is that technique?" Piccolo asked Juumara, befuddled. "I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before."

"How should I know?" Juumara answered.

Piccolo looked at the hybrid woman in surprise. "But you two trained in here together!"

"Not all the time, actually," Juumara clarified. "To tell you the truth, I don't know what kind of tricks he has up his sleeve. But let's see if this one will actually work this time."

Several feet away from Gotenji and his specter, Super Buu regarded the scene in confusion, staring blankly at the boy and wondering how he was able to spit out another version of himself like that. But he didn't think about it _too_ long.

As if they were telepathic- something that probably really wasn't out of the realms of possibility, Gotenji and the Ghost exchanged a secretive look, sending silent messages to each other. The Ghost's eyes sparkled wickedly as it suddenly began drifting away from Gotenji and made its way confidently over towards Majin Buu. Surprisingly, though, the Ghost stopped when he got midway to the evil Majin. Seeing this, Majin Buu quickly became guarded on all sides, not knowing what this apparition was about.

"Majin Buu! I'm gonna get you!" the Ghost crowed. "I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna GET YOU!"

The Ghost rushed the demon. Buu swung at the Ghost-Gotenji with a right cross, smirking victoriously as his fist collided harshly into the ghost's stomach. Fleetingly, the apparition stared in wide-eyed alarm; then, in the next instant, the Ghost's face swiftly turned malicious, chuckling wickedly as it glanced up at Buu. The smirk vanished from Buu's face as something about the Ghost's smile seemed very suspicious to him. Nonetheless, no one, save for the inventor of this bizarre technique himself, had been expecting what had happened next.

The Ghost exploded, carrying Buu into the detonation with it. Piccolo threw a hand out to shield his eyes from the ensuing flash of blinding light, while Juumara stared into it wide-eyed. When the smoke and light had at last ebbed completely away, Piccolo looked up ahead, and he and Juumara gasped in an unintentional cadence when they saw their enemy.

The explosion had turned the terrible Majin Buu into a gruesome deformed version of himself. His body was horridly twisted and singed all over, and his face was etched in disbelief and pain. Gotenji smirked in satisfaction at his handiwork.

"Oops! Seems like I forgot to tell you that once someone touches a ghost of mine, they explode instantly on contact!" Gotenji said, feigning innocence. Planting his fists on his and flinging his head back, the child Fusion brayed with triumphant laughter.

"Hey, Gotenji! Don't stop, Majin Buu will return back to normal soon!" Piccolo told him. "Keep those ghosts coming!"

"I see what you're getting at," Juumara said comprehendingly, smirking. "If one of those ghosts can do this much damage to Majin Buu, then maybe a lot of those ghosts exploding on him at the same time will do a lot worse. Possibly even kill him!"

"Exactly!" Piccolo replied. He then turned back to Gotenji. "Gotenji, do it again!"

"OK!" Gotenji briefly rallied himself, before screaming again, "SUPER KAMIKAZE GHOST ATTACK!" His power flared around him once more, and another halo rose from off his body and up into the air. The Fusion then proceeded to burp out another Ghost-but not just one this time, as he spun around in a circle, spitting up another Ghost and another one and another one until he had about ten Ghosts of himself in total.

Piccolo and Juumara sweatdropped at the same time again at the strange scene playing out before them.

Gotenji fisted his hands on his hips as he observed his specters like a general would his troops. The ghosts were discussing some very unnecessary stuff with each other, and he didn't like it one bit. The child Fusion decided it was time to get serious!

"Attention!" That one word of command had swiftly put a halt to the Ghosts' conversations. "Line up!" the Ghosts obeyed instantly again, however, near the back of the line, two ghosts were bickering over something it seemed. Gotenji never noticed the two, though, as he was too busy frowning at his Ghost army. Something seemed off about the line. He then made a mental count of all his Ghosts, and gasped when he soon realized that one was missing

"Hey! Where'd he go?" he wondered, turning his head this way and that in search for the missing Ghost. A second later, Gotenji finally discovered the Ghost's whereabouts, and scowled exasperatedly. He'd found the ghost sound asleep on the floor, a bubble dilating then constricting out the corner of its mouth.

Looking sullen, Gotenji stomped over toward the sleeping specter, his left eyebrow twitching as he hovered over it furiously.

"WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!" he blared in the specter's ear, his thunderous voice snapping the Gotenji-Ghost awake.

The phantom yawned and rubbed its eyes as it stood. Then, without so much as a word of apology for its behavior, or even having the courtesy to look chagrined, it groggily floated back over to its comrades, ignoring the death glare his creator was giving him.

Taking a deep sigh to calm himself down, Gotenji began inspecting his squad once more and was very pleased to find them obediently waiting for him to give out their next our. He cleared his voice and spoke.

"Well, now that you've _finally_ decided to settle down, it's action time! The enemy has created too much horrors and taken away too many lives- some of them including our loved ones! That's why we must attack quickly and very painfully! Understand!"

"Yes, sir!" the ghosts chorused.

Gotenji gave a short nod before continuing. "All right, here's what we're going to do-"

"Uh, Gotenji?" Piccolo called.

"Not now, Piccolo-san," Gotenji called back, waving a hand dismissively at the Namekseijin. "I'm trying to form a battle strategy over here!"

"We see that, you idiot!" Juumara snapped. "But while you were taking too long to come up with one, Majin Buu had found something else to do."

"Huh?" Wondering what his mother-aunt meant by those words, Gotenji swivelled his head in the direction he'd seen Buu last, and he nearly did a double take at what he found. Majin Buu was stretched out across the floor, reading a comic book and sipping on a cream soda at the same time. Gotenji became absolutely livid.

"_Kono Yarou_! How dare you do that during the middle of our fight!" Gotenji bellowed in anger. "Enjoy it while you still can!"

Taking another sip of his drink, Majin Buu lifted a bored gaze on Gotenji after hearing his rant.

"Are you ready to start again yet?" he asked.

Gotenji gnashed his teeth in fury, his fists clenched tightly at his side. "You asshole!" Turning to face his ghost troops, he shouted, "1 & 2! Go take that punk out!" Nodding in compliance, the ghosts obediently lunged at the evil Majin.

Buu didn't even pay the Ghosts any heed. He was too engrossed into his comic book to notice them- or so it seemed. For as soon as the Ghosts got halfway towards him, they separated, and one went around Buu to come at him on the other side. The Gotenji Ghosts then continued their charge, however, as they eventually reached their target, Majin broke into a hellish grin as he dropped his pretense and briskly sprung into the air. The Ghosts exchanged brief looks of panic, before colliding into one another and exploding together on contact.

"Ah, man!" Gotenji whined, angry that Buu had had him well anticipated.

"Dammit! It didn't work!" Juumara hissed, her beautiful face twisting in a scowl.

"Gotenji! You're going to have to be a lot smarter in your approach," Piccolo advised.

Even as he heard Piccolo's words, Majin Buu's evil cackling filled Gotenji's ears as the cruel demon made his descent back onto the ground.

"Tsk, tsk! Can't use the same trick on me!" taunted the Majin, waving a mocking finger at the Fusion boy.

Gotenji snarled. Piccolo was right, he really was going to have to be smarter about this! Majin Buu would expect him just to send his Ghosts lunging at him, unless- unless he could find some way to be sneaky with it. A secretive smirk slid across Gotenji's face suddenly, as another plan began swirling to life in the hub of many ideas in his head. Yes, Majin Buu would never expect what the half-Saiyajin Fusion had in stored for him next time.

"Okay, troops, huddle up! Time for new plan!" Gotenji announced. The Ghosts obediently got in a circle around their master, though remembering not to touch each other or him as they waited for Gotenji's new tactic. "All right, the first plan was a dud, but I have an even better idea now. So, here's what we're going to do..."Gotenji's voice trailed off into a voice that only the ghosts could hear, making the three onlookers curious as to what Gotenji was planning now.

"Hahahaha! That's great! Old jerk face over there will never be expecting that!" one of the Ghosts boasted aloud.

"That bastard's going down for sure, this time!" said another one.

"Shhh!" Gotenji admonished.

"Sorry!" the two ghosts said in unison.

A few minutes later, Gotenji and his Ghosts broke from their huddle and stood straight, all looking very smug and very pleased about whatever plan their creator had come up with.

"Okay guys, remember what I told you?" The ghosts nodded. "Good! Now let's get to work!"

"This should be good," Juumara remarked dryly.

However, before the plan could even go into motion, two ghosts idiotically gave each other high-fives, and as a result of their stupidity they exploded, leaving Gotenji short of specters.

At the same times, both Juumara and Piccolo covered their face with a hand and shook their head in embarrassment.

For a moment, Gotenji looked disgruntled, but then his face melted into resigned resolve.

"Forget those two idiots! We're still going with the plan," he said resolutely, sneeringly glancing back over his shoulder at the enemy. "Okay troops, all of you go, except for number ten- you stay back with me! GET HIM!"

All except for Ghost #10 rushed into action. The Majin glowered as he watched his 'enemies' zoom across the Seishin toward him. That was it! Majin Buu had decided that as soon as he dodged the advancing batch of specters, Gotenji was dead! To Majin Buu's surprise, though, when the Ghosts reached him they flew past him and landed several feet away from him. Blinking in confusion, Majin Buu looked around and saw the phantoms clustered together. Edging closer towards them, they looked to be chatting about something fascinating they'd apparently found.

"Oi! Isn't this the coolest thing you've ever seen?"

"Yeah, look at the way it sparkles like gold!"

"I wonder if we find any more of these pretty gems!"

As Majin Buu got closer and closer towards the Ghost troops, his curiosity increased by the second, wondering what was enchanting about gems. Sensing Majin Buu stopping beside them, furtive smirks spread simultaneously across their faces; it was show time.

"Oi, Buu-san, why don't take a closer look?" one of the Ghosts offered, sniggering inwardly when Majin Buu leaned forward to see what they were seeing.

The demon abruptly gasped when he saw that the ghosts hadn't really found anything. "Oi-"

"Now!" Dropping their pretension, the Ghosts quickly latched onto any body part of the Majin that they could, then-

KAAAAABOOOOOMM!

Piccolo had to once again shield eyes as the room lit up in a violent burst of fire. When it was safe to see again, he looked back over in the direction where Buu was, and just like Juumara, his eyes immediately went wide from the way Majin Buu was even more grotesquely distorted than last time. Hopeful smiles graced their faces when they saw the number the ghosts had done on Majin Buu- maybe Gotenji's childish attacks might just gain them victory after all.

Over by his remaining specter version, Gotenji cheered jubilantly at himself for thinking of such a great idea. And the best part was...he wasn't even done yet. He then turned towards the final Ghost.

"Okay, number ten! Since Buu loves to turn people into food, give him something to really eat on!" Gotenji ordered.

With a battle cry, the Ghost launched forward at breakneck speed, cackling madly as it soared through the warped Majin Buu's gaping mouth. Moments later-

KEEERRRRBBBBOOOOMMMMM!

The last explosion was the loudest, sounding like a combination of a horde of mountains crumbling and hundreds of cannons being fired at once. A massive mushroom cloud rose high in the detonation's aftermath. The three warriors crossed their arms out in front of them in a ki-block as the concussion of the explosion whipped out at them unmercifully. The vicious sound hung in the air for several more long moments, before finally dropping down to an eerie silence.

Seeing that it was safe to see again, the three warriors gazed at where the explosion had originated and their jaws dropped at what they saw. The once all-powerful Majin Buu now lay in many,_ many _sections as pink globs. The trio continued to look on in silence, all wondering if the deadly demon was truly vaporized for good this time. And when the fiend hadn't re-shown himself minutes later, the trio erupted in celebration.

"Yay! I did it! I did it! I took down Majin Buu! Who's the man! Gotenji is!" The Fusion gave himself a well-deserved pat on the back for accomplishing something that not even their fathers and their brother hadn't been able to do themselves.

Away from the hooting boy, Piccolo and Juumara gawped at the youth.

"I don't believe it..." Juumara said slowly.

"He actually defeated Majin Buu!" Piccolo added.

Gotenji grinned. "Of course! Was there ever any doubt?"

"Yes!" Juumara and Piccolo chimed.

"In any case," Piccolo said, "we're still not done here. We need to destroy Majin Buu's fragments so that he can't regenerate."

With those word said, he started towards the lifeless Buu globs, Juumara and Gotenji both following his lead.

* * *

"Kaioushin-sama, do you feel that?" Goku asked, his brows knitting together as he stared off into the distance. "I haven't been able to feel Majin Buu's ki for some time now."

"Huh?" Kaioushin replied in surprised, jumping to his feet. He felt out for the ki of his hated enemy and gasped. "You're right!"

"What does this mean, Kaioushin-sama?" Kibito wondered. "Is he dead?"

"I don't know," Goku replied. "I also can't sense the Fusions anymore either. Why did they disappear?"

Hearing them, Rou Kaioushin looked toward the three down the hill. "Well, the reason you can't sense them is because they have been battling within a different dimension of Time."

"A different dimension of time?" Goku repeated.

"Yeah, you know anything about that?" Rou Kaioushin asked.

Goku mulled over the question. "Oi, you must mean the Room of Spirit and Time!" he realized with a expression of surprise. "But why are they fighting there? Where the kids and Juuhachi-gou and Amara training and Buu attacked them?"

"Nope, that Namekseijin led them inside there," Rou Kaioushin explained. "I still don't know why."

"I don't understand either, honorable, forefather," Kaioushin admitted.

"I must say, Old Kaioushin-sama is definitely what one would think of a Kaioushin," Goku said. He gave Kaioushin a teasing look. "Gohan's grown much more powerful. All you have left is your fancy title."

Kaioushin looked affronted by the Saiyajin's comment. "Hmph! Really, you act as if I've done nothing to contribute to this cause."

* * *

"Man, Hoshi's going to turn so green with jealousy when she hears I was the one who stopped Majin Buu and saved Chikyuu!" Gotenji gloated, while singeing all the Buu globs on his side into nothingness with quick blasts of energy.

"Destroy now, gloat later!" Juumara said as she blasted all the Buu remnants on her side into many small mountains of ashes. Piccolo did the same thing a few feet away from her. Secretly, the Amara side of her was still fuming that the glory of defeating Majin Buu has gone to some cocky little kid.

Pretty soon they obliterated every last of Majin Buu, and they all let out collective sighs of relief. The threat was over. Buu was dead. Earth- along with the rest of the universe had been saved once more.

"Come on, let's go," Piccolo said and spun around on his heels. Juumara and Gotenji followed behind him. The three were about to head for the door, when suddenly...a blast of savage, howling wind struck out at the threesome's backs from out nowhere, stopping them in their tracks.

"What the hell?" Piccolo snarled.

"Uso yo!" Piccolo instantly whirled back around when he heard the two Fusions, Juumara and Gotenji were facing the white region of the Seishin, but staring up at the sky, their eyes widened and their jaws slacked as they looked startled by something. Gazing skyward, Piccolo was instantly aghast at what he saw above them.

"Dammit! He's still alive!" he growled, gritting his ivory fangs in annoyance.

"Ah man! Not again!" Gotenji whined.

"I knew it was too good to be true!" Juumara's voice could barely be heard over the turbulence. "But how? How could he come back? We destroyed all of him!"

Piccolo speculated on that question for a moment, and then an expression akin to grudging respect slipped on his face. "How ingenious. He used the smoke to regenerate himself!"

"Oh, man. Here he comes!" Gotenji announced, pointing anxiously towards the sky. Up in the air, the smoke finally plunged into each other, swirling above the gaping three below before Majin Buu finally reconfigured himself, grinning dastardly back down at the warriors. His gleaming dark pink eyes mocking them at their foolish attempt to defeat him.

"What are we going to do now?" Gotenji fretted. Before anyone could answer, Juumara's power seared around her like angry gold flames as she screamed.

"He dies, now!" Juumara hissed dangerously, and hurtled up into the sky again. Not about to let his mother-aunt have get all the action, Gotenji joined her side.

Majin Buu swiftly braced himself as a whirl of vicious kicks and punches bombarded him, the Fusions' teeth were set as they struck at him furiously. Majin Buu glowered balefully at his two adversaries; these two were starting to become real pains in his neck. The last time had been a very close shave for him. If it hadn't been for those flames, it really might have been all for him. Well, he just wouldn't let that happened. He would kill them and their family and friends, and continue on to live forever, reigning over the universe as the strongest fighter. He refuted to lose!

With a shriek, Majin Buu's ki erupted from his muscular frame, rocking Juumara and Gotenji backwards in different directions. Setting his callous sights on Gotenji first, Majin Buu's forelock extended and locked securely around Gotenji's waist. The boy fusion let out a small cry of surprise before he was reeled back in towards the Majinn. Cackling madly, Majin Buu abused Gotenji's handsome face briefly with brutal punches, and with a jerk of his head he cast Gotenji earthward where the boy's small body bounced harshly against the unforgiving ground.

"KIIYAAAAHHHH!"

Majin Buu arched backwards, barely dodging a roundhouse punch from Juumara, while still bent he lifted his knee and slammed it cruelly into the woman's stomach, her turquoise eyes widening in shock and pain as the breath was knocked out of her lungs. Using his momentum, he flipped upright then aggressively shoved his elbow into the woman's spine, sending her sprawling earthward. However, when she hit the floor, Juumara went right through it as if she herself was a ghost.

"Huh?" Both Piccolo and Buu asked at the same time; that was completely unexpected.

What they also didn't expect, was to see Juumara resurface seconds later made completely out of wood and now towering over everyone at the room at a height of twenty feet.

"Cool!" Gotenji said as he recovered, dutifully impressed.

Piccolo could only gape in openmouthed amazement.

Even Majin Buu looked astounded, which Juumara took full advantage of, lashing out to catch him by the waist in a vice-grip. Grinning callously, she viciously squeezed even harder, extracting a genuine cry of pain from him.

"Rejuvenate from this!" Juumara shouted. Thorny vines abruptly rose up from between Juumara's hands to wrap around Buu in a cocoon. Arcs of blue electricity then raced through the vines and hit the demon point-blank, eliciting an even louder cry of pain.

This brought looks of enthusiasm on the faces of Piccolo and Gotenji.

"That's it, Juumara! Show no mercy!" Piccolo cheered.

And showed no mercy she did; she even placed her other hand over the cocoon of vines Buu was in, adding more bolts of electric energy to torture him. She wanted him to suffer for everything he's done...

All of a sudden, Majin Buu let out a roar of rage, his blazing aura lashing out to burn off the vines and as well as Juumara's hand. Juumara, Gotenji, and Piccolo stared in equal dismay. Backing away some, Buu lunged back in with a vengeance, right fist extended out. He smashed right through Juumara's wooden body, completely shattering it. Floating amidst the numerous pieces of woods was the real Juumara herself, face twisted in pain. Baring his teeth in anger, he flew after her again.

"DIE!" he bellowed.

"You stay away from my mother!"

Gotenji came up behind Majin Buu and delivered a snap kick to the beast's spine, causing him to cry out, in pain or surprise no one truly knew. Gotenji quickly renewed his attack, grinning coldly as he pummelled Majin Buu's spine with a torrent of vicious punches. The boy was sure that he'd break Buu's spinal cord. Floating backwards a bit and cocking his fist up, Gotenji prepared to deliver the decisive blow, however as he charged right back in, Majin Buu had him well scouted; in an amazing display of flexibility, he stretched his right leg over his shoulder and caught Gotenji in the face, twisting around to put more weight into the kick. He smirked fiendishly when he saw Gotenji crash into Juumara, who was trying to make a comeback, and the two went slamming into the floor.

On the sidelines, Piccolo observed the scene worriedly. His team was losing. Not even the combine might of two Super Saiyajin Fusions were enough to crush Majin Buu, and as he saw Majin Buu knock the duo back down with ease, he began pondering on rather he should do what he thought of as soon as he brought Majin Buu to the Room of Spirit and Time...destroy the door that led into the room. Although that meant that everyone in the room would be forever trapped them all inside, at least the world would be saved. No wait! He had to see if that were his only alternative; he'd hate to trap them all in there if they did defeat Majin Buu, especially with the tempers Juumara possessed.

Juumara and Gotenji grunted in unison as they slowly, with laborious effort, pulled themselves out of the craters their bodies had smashed into the ground and stood. Juumara was noticeably holding her side after landing roughly on it.

"Seems Buu has decided to quit toying with us," she remarked, scowling. "Well, if we don't pull out some kind of miracle, we might be joining both your tousans and your oniichan."

Adjacent to her, Gotenji nodded in agreement. They were going to need a miracle to defeat Majin Buu, and lucky for all of them, he had such the miracle his mother and Piccolo needed. All those wacky attacks hadn't been the only thing he'd learned while training in the Seishin. He had a secret ace up his sleeve, an ace he couldn't bring out just right yet. He wanted it to be dramatic before he performed his greatest trick of all.

Juumara's eyes narrowed as she clenched her fists at her side, and then raised them in a Juuhachi-gou-esque fighting stance; she wasn't going down without a fight. "Come on, Gotenji. It's time for us to go all-out!" The woman missed the sly smirk that slid on Gotenji's face and disappeared at the speed of lightning.

_*That's my cue_!* he said silently to himself.

"Oh, no! This can't be happening!" Gotenji whined; he was about to put on the performance of his life.

"What's wrong?" Juumara asked, sounding half-annoyed, half-concerned. She really hoped something was terribly wrong with Gotenji. They just couldn't afford him to get an injury right now.

"My power! It's gone, I can't summon up any more ki!" he said frantically, feigning a pretty pathetic expression. The fusion was laughing inwardly at how convincing he sounded and appeared, thinking he should be an actor when he saw the worried expression on his mother-aunt's face.

"What do you mean you can't summon of any more ki?" Juumara demanded, all but shouting in his face as she gripped his shoulders and shook him. "You couldn't have lost all of your energy that quickly, could you?" She growled in frustration when Gotenji unfortunately nodded.

Hearing the conversation with his long-range hearing, Piccolo had made his decision.

Juumara was about to say something else to her son-nephew when suddenly-

BOOOOMMM!

Immediately, the Fusions and Majin Buu glanced in the direction the explosion had instigated. They saw Piccolo's body halfway turned and his right hand stretched out, a field of smoke hovering in the background. It hadn't taken too long for Juumara to realize what Piccolo had shot at, and her mouth slacked opened and her eyes widened. Gotenji and Majin Buu wore the same shocked expressions when their brains finally grasped the comprehension of what Piccolo had just done.

The door was gone, and now they had no way out.

* * *

With his enhanced hearing and internal sensors, Juunana-gou knew that an explosion was about to occur before anyone else did. He'd still been standing alone, while everyone else were still in dialogue about Juumara's and Gotenji's chances against Majin Buu, when his sensors swiftly picked on the all-too familiar feeling of a violent increase in the temperature and energy.

"Everyone, take cover!" the dark-haired male Jinzouningen shouted.

That was the only warning everyone got, before the door to the Room of Spirit and Time suddenly exploded. The concussion of the blowup sent everyone (except for Juunana-gou, who'd already been hovering in the air as soon as he realized what was going on) crashing onto the red-carpeted floor. When everything had settled shortly after, Juunana-gou had alighted lightly back onto the ground, while everyone else gradually regained their footing. Startled by the detonation, Bra had burst in tears. Both Bulma and Yamucha quickly tried to settle down their frightened daughter.

"What in the world was that?" Kuririn asked.

"It came from the Seishin," Juunana-gou informed them. Everybody looked over at the door. Most of them gasped in dread astonishment when they saw there was no longer a door, while a certain blue-eyed, dark-haired young man frowned.

"Oh no! They're trapped!" Hoshi fretted.

"So, I guess Piccolo was finally pushed back into that corner," Dende said solemnly, knowing that only no one but his mentor would ever think to destroy the door to the Room of Spirit and Time.

"So what happens now?" Videl questioned, her brows rutted together in a frown.

No one could answer her, as none of them truthfully knew, dead silence hanging over them all like a cloud. Now that the door that led to the Room of Spirit and Time was demolished, Majin Buu couldn't escape and wreak any more havoc onto the planet. But at what price? Three of their friends were trapped inside with the horrible beast and there was no way of rescuing them unless...Majin Buu had destroyed them then they could wish them back with the Dragonballs. Either way this new development was looking very grim.

* * *

"What is the meaning of your actions, Namekseijin?" Juumara demanded angrily, as she stalked towards Piccolo. Abreast to her, a just as angry Gotenji fell into footstep along with her. The green warrior sweatdropped and backpedaled as the upset Fusions glared him down.

"Yeah! Why'd you destroy the door and lock us in here!" bellowed a furious Gotenji.

Piccolo gulped nervously, before regaining his composure and staring back at the two with unwavering firmness.

"Listen, I thought it was the best move to make since Gotenji's out of power! If Majin Buu does get passed us, then at least he wouldn't be a peril to the world anymore!" he said logically. He then smirked crookedly as he gazed beyond Juumara's and Gotenji's shoulders, his obsidian eyes locking with Buu's wide dark pink ones. "That's right Majin Buu! Even if you kill us, you'll be forever incarcerated inside the Room of Spirit and Time! There is no escape for you!"

Majin Buu froze in place, his heart pumping frantically in his chest at the Namekseijin's announcement. As Piccolo's words slowly sunk into his head, Majin Buu began grasping the knowledge of his situation; if he was stuck in here forever then that means...he could no longer torture anybody else or destroy anymore planets. But worst of all...he would no longer be able to eat any candy. "N-no more candy?"

"Nice going, Piccolo! You just had to ruin everything for me!" Gotenji complained, pouting as he crossed his arms over his ripped chest. "And just when I was about unleash my supreme attack on Majin Buu, too!"

Juumara's and Piccolo's eyes widened then narrowed as they both zeroed in on Gotenji's words.

"What do you mean your 'supreme attack'?" Piccolo asked.

"I thought you said you couldn't summon up any more power?" Juumara demanded.

Gotenji quailed under the fierce glares the two were fixing him, realizing too late he had just said a little too much.

"Um. Er. Well...I, uh...Oh, all right, so maybe I was lying when I said that. I was only trying to save this attack for the right moment."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Juumara and Piccolo bellowed in unison.

And then Gotenji saw many lights and stars, while he was dealt many lumps to his head.

"ITAI! Oi, why'd you do that for?" Gotenji whined, as he rubbed his hand soothingly over the two large lumps on his head that had been inflicted by Piccolo and Juumara.

"You baka! What the hell were you thinking jeopardizing Earth's future like that!" Juumara barked, her eyes snapping an inner icy blue fire. "Oooh, you brat! I should thrash you good for this!"

"I just wanted to make the scene right before I did my trick!"

"Yeah, well because of your stalling, we're now stuck in here with no hope of ever getting out! I hope you're proud of yourself!" Juumara said bitterly, causing Gotenji to lower his head in shame. "And since you got us into this mess, then you're going to get us-"

"Hey, check him out," Piccolo interrupted, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. Whirling, Juumara and Gotenji finally saw what Piccolo was seeing. Majin Buu was pacing around them like a zombie, all the while the kept muttering, "No more candy."

"What's he up to now?" Juumara asked snappishly, planting her fists angrily on her hips.

"Quiet, and let's watch him," Piccolo advised.

The three immediately fell silent and started to observe Majin Buu walking around as if all the life had been drained from him, staring blandly at everyone and everything. His mind was still couldn't get over the shock of the fact that he could no longer enjoyed all the sweets that the universe had to offer him. He would be trapped in this plain, boring room for an eternity and waste away to nothing, while all those delicious candy was on the outside and he couldn't taste them.

Majin Buu paused in footsteps, making the three onlookers stare at him curiously. The thought of not being able to eat any more chocolate bars, cakes or many other sugary delights just didn't sit too well for the demon. No! He couldn't let some stupid room contain him. He couldn't allow himself to be stored away like forgotten trash again. He'd been imprisoned for a long before, but inside a rotten ball where he'd slept for years before finally being awakened just two days ago. He refused to let anyone lock him away again! He was going to flourish and eat lots and lots of candy!

"YES, I WILL HAVE MY CANDY!" he bellowed, a maniacal grin splitting his face as he tightened his fists at his sides. Flinging his head back, Majin Buu let out an ear-splitting shriek, white flames consuming him as he dug deep down into himself, summoning up all of his power. The three warriors flung their arms out to protect their faces from the concussion of Majin Buu's ki, and at the same time also trying to maintain their footing as the vibrations of Majin Buu's screaming rocked the entire room.

And right before everyone's eyes, the white space where the door had been began to fade away into a semi-large black hole. The strength of Majin Buu's bawling had echoed so loudly that it ruptured a fissure in the barrier between the dimensions that led to the outside world.

"What...has he done?" asked Juumara, her face a mask of utter confoundment.

"Dammit! Buu's actually done it!" Piccolo said in horrified astonishment. "He actually created an opening back into realm where Earth is!"

Majin Buu tilted his head as he observed the hole curiously. It was showing him and the others a small view of the Tenkai courtyard. It took a few minutes for Majin Buu to finally realize what he'd done, a malicious grin spreading across his face as he regarded the heroic trio with a demonic laughter. His guffawing quickly ceased to exist when he saw the hole starting to abridge, his ticket to freedom was about to go.

Glancing over his shoulder, he grinned wickedly at the other warriors. "Well it's been fun, but I really must go eat my candy now!"

Buu then leaped through the portal, laughing scornfully at his enemies as he did so. The three warriors snapped out of their dazes and bolted after him, trying to follow him through the portal and prevent him from hurting the others who were on the outside. Reaching the opening, the three made a concurrent jump towards it...but the portal shrunk completely into itself and the three ended up falling face-first onto the floor.

Lifting their heads to stare at the space where the portal had been, Piccolo, Gotenji, and Juumara gasped dismayingly at the same time as they were in by the bleak reality of what had just happened.

They were trapped inside forever.

And Majin Buu was once again free to destroy the world.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	51. Another Super Saiyajin Three!

**Disclaimer: I still don't own DBZ, but the original characters in this story are mine.**

**Author's Note: To those who may not like this, I decided to downgrade Juumara's from Super Saiyajin Three to Super Saiyajin Two. I hated to do it, because I like the idea of a female Super Saiyajin Three, but if she and Gotenji are both Super Saiyajin Three, then that means I'd have to make Majin Buu even stronger. Now does he really need that?**

**Chapter Fifty-One: Another Super Saiyajin Three!**

* * *

Some time during all the madness going on within the Room of Spirit and Time, everyone on the outside had made their way back around to the front. The Z-Gang stood near the palace, conversing amongst themselves. Juunana-gou was there also, but continued to keep his distance away from them. He stood against one of the palm trees with his arms crossed, his dark brows furrowed together as he brooded over what had happened to his sister and her son.

Muten Roshi muttered an expletive under his breath when he suddenly and clumsily dropped his gnarled bo staff. It rolled across the tiled floor a few times before its trajectory came to an end in the center of the courtyard. Sighing irritably, the Turtle Elder shuffled over to retrieve his stick. Just as he was standing back up, something strange caught his eye. A few feet in the air above him, electricity rippled through the air inexplicably.

"_N-nanda ka_?" the old man breathed in wonder. Sliding his sunglasses slightly off his face, Muten Roshi checked to make sure he wasn't finally going senile in his old age. When he quickly realized he wasn't, he pushed his glasses back onto his face with his index finger and an impromptu look of panic slipped onto his face as he backpedaled. His eyes widened into saucers behind his shades, as the electricity suddenly widened into a semi-size hole, the inside of it pitch black with peals of pink electricity outlining the darkness.

Before Muten Roshi had ever found the voice to tell the others of the anomaly taking place in front of him, Juunana-gou was the second to notice the dark hole. His catlike eyes narrowed suspiciously on it.

_*What in the world is that?* _he wondered, while moving in the get a closer look at the swirling vortex.

"G-guys, you'd better come over here!" Roshi's startled voice drew everyone else's immediate attention on him. Astonishment and bewilderment quickly befell them when they noticed the convolution in the centre of the Lookout as well. Like moths drawn to a flame, everyone joined both Muten Roshi and Juunana-gou, though remembering to stay a safe distance away, in front of the anomaly.

"W-what's going on here?" Kuririn asked with a slight cringe, experience telling him that portals opening up without reason-reason he didn't know of, meant very bad news.

A communal cry of shock came from the group, when a long stream of pink goo suddenly leaked out through the portal and arced skyward over them. Though the strange anomaly didn't have a definite form, to those in the group who could sense ki, it was certainly recognizable to them.

"_Masaka_! He's back! Majin Buu's return!" Muten Roshi called in trepidation.

Just as soon as he said that, the liquefied Majin began rebuilding his body. When had become solid again and his facial features had returned at last, Majin Buu's lips was warped into a triumphant, evil sneer, as he gazed down at the group below with deadly glinted eyes, lips stretched in a sadistic grin. Behind and below him the portal soon closed, shutting off any attempts for their last hope for survival to come rescue them.

Majin Buu continued to grin down at the group in front of him, many expressions sliding across their faces. While dreadful astonishment slipped on the faces of the others, Juunana-gou regarded the demon hostilely as he immediately noticed that his twin nor nephew had come out as well. Inheriting her nature from her Saiyajin side, Hoshi glowered rebelliously at Majin Buu, her tiny fists clenched tightly at her side. Almost too soon had the young princess realize that Juumara, Gotenji, and Piccolo hadn't come out of the hole as well.

"Where's Mama and the others?" she boldly asked one of the many unvoiced questions. Kuririn instinctively grabbed his daughter by the arms, when it seemed she was going to actually lunge at Majin Buu.

The all-powerful Majin made his descent onto the courtyard and the group backtracked away from Buu on instinct; all of them save for Juunana-gou and Hoshi, who was still waiting for Buu's response to her question. And to everyone's surprise he did answer, but it wasn't what they wanted to hear.

"You shouldn't worry about your friends-they're dead!" he lied. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. Now that the only entrance to the Room of Spirit and Time was destroyed, his enemies were going to be the ones trapped inside that place until they did eventually die. Meanwhile, he was back out there-free to have all the candy he wanted! "That's right, I killed them all. But don't worry, you'll be joining them...as soon as I have my snack first! And I've already decided that I want choco candy bars!" He grinned horribly at the looks of shock he extracted from his quarries. "Now, I wonder which one of you will taste the yummiest?"

While dread lit up the faces of the others, after Buu's atrocious announcement of the deaths of Juumara, Gotenji and Piccolo, Juunana-gou's handsome face contorted in cold fury. He'd lost his sister yet again, and just after they'd finally reunited, too. Some one was going to pay!

"Everyone, listen up," Juunana-gou said in a voice that everyone but Buu could hear. They looked toward him questioningly. "I'm going to launch an attack on Majin Buu, meanwhile, the rest of you get out of here if you care about living!"

"What!" Came they outcry of shock.

"But you're no match for Buu!" Kuririn told him.

"I wanna stay and help you fight!" Hoshi declared, transforming to Super Saiyajin.

"WHAT! FORGET IT!" Kuririn shouted.

Juunana-gou glared irritably at them both. "Stop arguing, both of you, and run when I say so!"

Majin Buu suddenly cracked his neck side-to-side and crouched in a readied position. "Enough standing around! It's lunch time!"

"NOW!" Juunana-gou bellowed abruptly, while rushing towards the advancing Majin Buu with impressive speed, and punching him squarely in the face as hard as he could. Everyone immediately broke out in a sprint towards a safe haven.

When he saw that all the others were gone, Juunana-gou turned his attention back to Majin Buu, who looked more amuse than hurt by the attack. Quickly, the young man jumped backwards to put some space between the two of them. The cyborg flashed the demon that wild, reckless grin of his, while Buu glowered at him. Truth be told, he wasn't doing all of this just to be a hero. Far from it. He was challenging Majin Buu because he'd been silently itching for the opportunity to get his shot at this supposedly omnipotent creature ever since he'd heard about him- and he just couldn't resist a good fight when he saw one. But also, he was doing this to avenge the deaths of his sister and nephew.

"All right, Majin Buu," he said haughtily, pulling back the sleeves of his coat, "I hear you're supposed to be the toughest thing since Cell. Well, I want to test that out for myself!"

Majin Buu's expression lessened into a blank expression momentarily, as he stared blinkingly at the man. Then the cruel Majin erupted into contemptuous laughter.

"You can't kill me! You're too weak!" he sneered. "But you will make an excellent snack!"

Juunana-gou snarled; that comment had extremely infuriated him. Mostly because it was a painful reminder of how Cell had used that tail of us to gobble him up like he was kind of food. He would never let that happen to himself every again.

"We'll see about that!" he hissed, leaping into the air, raising both hands. With a battle cry, he summoned up power in both hands and hurled them at the Majin, hitting him on target; fire and smoke consumed Buu. Juunana-gou didn't stop there, however, as he fired several more energy blasts, before finishing it up with a even larger crimson ki blast, creating a bigger explosion.

Juunana-gou grinned at his handcraft; if he hadn't killed Majin Buu just then, surely he'd been severely damaged as all his attacks hit home. The Jinzouningen was so confident in that thought, that he hadn't been prepared for what happened next. In the next instant, Majin Buu launched out of the cloud of haze, unscathed and still very much alive. Juunana-gou had only a brief moment to stare in shock, before he had gotten hit with a Henka Beam.

On the other side of the palace, lined up against a wall, the Z-Gang cringed almost simultaneously as they heard the distinctive lament of Juunana-gou.

Majin Buu licked his lips hungrily as he knelt down and picked the Juunana-gou-cookie off the ground. He stared at it for a moment, revelling in the Jinzouningen's expression of surprise and fear-his last expression- before finally tossing it in his mouth and chomping down on it. The wicked demon moaned in sadistic delight as he swallowed the sugary treat down, caressing his stomach. That guy had sure made for good candy. And he had no doubt that the others would be just as good.

Grinning, Majin Buu was about to go hunt for the others when an idea suddenly came to him. Why go through all that trouble when he could just hit them all at once?

Spreading his arms out, Buu flung his head back and howled in sadistic laughter as he fired off many Henka Beams at the same time and in every direction. Only-too quickly, several terrified screams responded back. And soon, an eerie and foreboding silence invaded this once peaceful sanctuary.

* * *

Meanwhile, back inside the Room of Spirit and Time, the three fighters were still trying to find an outlet. They knew they had to hurry, with Majin Buu loose outside with no one able to stop him. Their family and friends were in serious danger!

"Oh, no. What are we going to do? I can't stay trapped in here! I'm too young!" Gotenji was saying to himself. He slid onto the ground in despair, wrapped his arms around his knees, and started slowly rocking himself like a lost child.

"Quit your whining and stand!" Juumara snapped, fists planted on her hips. She unconsciously reminded the Koji within Gotenji of the angry look his mother throws at him whenever he's done something bad. "You're the reason we're locked up in here in the first place!"

Gotenji grimaced defensively and rose back up on his feet. "Hey, I'm sorry, all right, but I didn't think-"

"That's right, you didn't think!" Juumara snapped. "And because your antics we'll be locked in here for good, while Majin Buu's probably feasting the others as we speak!"

Beside the warriors Piccolo scowled as his poor sensitive ears were abused by their bickering. How in the world could he think of a way to get them out with all that racket? Oh, why hadn't he been smart enough to install a backdoor to the Seishin? He was likeable to go mad if he had to stay locked up inside the Room of Spirit and Time with these two (well, four) warriors forever. Minutes passed, and when the two still hadn't quieted and finally, the Namekseijin had had enough.

"Grrrr! Would you two shut the hell up!" he snapped, ignoring the rebellious glares the two shot him. "You two should be more focused on getting out of this place then trying to get at each other's throats!"

"Well, you use to be God around here, you get us out!" Juumara snarled, feeling more sullen than guilty by Piccolo's words.

"Yeah!" Gotenji said in agreement.

Piccolo gritted his ivory fangs and glared ferociously at the fused pair, his anger threatening to get the better of him. However, years of mental training helped him calm himself down, but with effort. He knew now was not the time to let his anger cloud his judgment. If only Goku was here, he probably could have teleported them out with his Shuken Idou technique.

Taking a deep breath, Piccolo said, "Look! We all have to be calm and patient, because arguing with one another won't get us out of here faster. There's got to be some way out of here. If there's one important thing I've learned from Goku, it's that there's always a way, we just have to look for it."

"Well, we better get on the ball fast," Juumara said pressingly. "The others are in grave danger as long as Majin Buu is out there."

"So I guess we just sing campfire songs until we do figure a way out," Gotenji said sarcastically.

Both Piccolo and Juumara's eyes widened in wonder as they instantly zoned in on Gotenji's words, staring at him as if he'd just said something brilliant. And he had.

"Oi, that's it!" they chorused.

"What is? Sing campfire songs?" Gotenji asked, nonplussed.

Piccolo started pacing around. "No, not that. Listen, if we remember correctly, Majin Buu was able to render a hole within the barrier between this dimension and Earth by extremely powerful vibrations from his voice. Now if we create a sound just a strong-"

"Then we might be able to break the barrier again," Juumara finished. "Yeah, it just might work!"

"Well, then let's do it," Piccolo said unfalteringly. Gotenji and Juumara nodded their heads obligingly. Swivelling around in one motion, they faced the featureless white wall where a door had once been, and lined up in a short neat line next to each other.

"All right, ready?" he called, and the Fusions nodded. "Now... scream with all your might!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!"

The trio screamed for an extended several moments, their vocals increasing to levels none of them had known they could reach. When another hole that led to the outside hadn't appeared in the next few minutes, the three gradually stopped. They simultaneously dropped to the floor on all fours, sweat rolling down their faces and their throats raw from shrieking so much.

"It didn't work! So we really are trapped in here forever!" Juumara snarled in angry resignation, banging her fists onto the floor in fury, creating two small spider-web like craters on the ground.

"No, this can't be happening! This just can't be happening!" Piccolo grumbled, their current situation seeming so surreal, yet it was very horrifyingly real.

"Ah, man! Now I'll never get to use that new technique I came up with!" Gotenji complained.

At Gotenji's words, Piccolo and Juumara's eyes flew wide with recognition; they met gazes for a fleeting moment before glancing over at the child Fusion, their eyes full of suspicion.

"Hey, Gotenji? Just exactly what is this new ability you keep talking about?" Juumara asked. "You never really showed it to us."

"Oh, what's the point?" Gotenji grumbled in a uncharacteristic despairing tone, crossing his arms and glowering down at the floor. "The moment's ruined for me to show it, anyways."

Piccolo and Juumara glared sharply at the younger warrior.

"Gotenji! Would you forget the glory for a minute, dammit!" Piccolo barked brusquely. "For all we know that technique of yours may actually help us escape!"

"Yes, so do it already you little brat or else!" Juumara threatened.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Gotenji growled under his breath as he stood. "Humph! I bet whenever my fathers were about to show a brand new ability the moment had been just perfect for them, but it can't be that way for me!" The grumpy looking, fused half-Saiyajin paced a few strides away from his mother-aunt and Piccolo, and once he was a good distance from him, he stopped and turned back around to face them.

Gotenji sighed and gathered himself before he commenced.

"Lady and gentleman! Prepare to be wowed and amazed as I unveil my coolest and most awesome technique ever!" the child warrior drawled, even though his audience of two seemed more annoyed than impressed. "Presenting the best ability a Saiyajin should have-"

"Oh, will you get on with it!" Piccolo snapped impatiently.

Gotenji scowled irritably at Piccolo for his interruption. Looking a bit sour, he continued. "Fine! Presenting-"Gotenji let that one word hang into the air, trying to thicken the suspense and get more affect. "Super Gotenji Three, baby!"

"Huh?" Juumara and Piccolo exclaimed at the same time, their eyes flying wide. But they didn't have time to wonder if the arrogant youth's claim was true, as Gotenji flung his head backwards and let out a piercing scream, his Super Saiyajin aura bursting from his small muscular frame. Juumara and Piccolo crossed their arms in ki-blocks in front of them and tried to stand their ground, however, Gotenji's growing power was too much for them and they went rocking several meters rearwards. It wasn't long before the bright radiance had died out, as well as Gotenji's that it was safe to look, Juumara and Piccolo gazed up ahead, and their jaws simultaneously dropped in openmouthed amazement when their eyes took a hold of Gotenji.

Gotenji looked pure Saiyajin as a Super Saiyajin Level Three, and like Goku in this form his dark-gold, spiky hair now touched the back of his knees, and he had no eyebrows. Tendrils of electricity ran across his muscular body-which looked slightly bigger than before, a sly smirk abruptly slipped on his face.

"Huzzah! So, what do you guys think?" Gotenji asked, doing a dramatic pose.

Instead of the large round of applause he'd been hoping for, Gotenji's reward were a couple of hard punches to the head.

"Ouch! What did you two do that for!" he growled.

"Insolent brat! You hid this ability from us all this time!" Piccolo barked accusingly, the tips of his fangs hanging out his mouth.

"If you would've done this earlier, we might've been able to defeat Majin Buu before he could escaped!" Juumara hissed angrily. "So this is what Koji and Goten meant earlier when they said they could go beyond Super Saiyajin now…"

Secretly, Juumara was absolutely furious. Not just at the boy's stupidity, but the fact that he had actually surpassed her in power, and without her even knowing about it. The Amara within her was seething with rage over that. Damn this advanced younger generation! But even as she thought that, the other side of her- Juuhachi-gou, was actually very proud of her son, albeit still annoyed at him.

"Heh, heh. A pretty cool transformation, right?" Gotenji asked smugly. "I knew you'd be impressed. But the one setback to this is that it makes it seem I should be fighting for the bad guys." Pulling a mirror out of thin air, the fused Saiyajin stared down at his reflection, mainly at the spots on his faces where eyebrows would normally be.

"Forget your vanity for right now," Piccolo told him. "I want you try shouting again. Now that you're a Super Saiyajin Three, you might just be strong enough to break another hole out of this dimension."

Privately, though, as angry as he was at Gotenji at the moment, he couldn't help but to be impressed with the young warrior. He reminded him a lot of his brother when he'd been training him for the arrival of the Saiyajin.

"I know, I know, I know," Gotenji said with a casual wave of his hand. Both his mother and Piccolo glared at him irritably.

Turning to face the wall, Gotenji took a moment to gather up all his ki, and then he flung his head forward to let out a piercing scream.

"KIIIIIIYYYYAAAAAHHHH!"

Within a few moments, Gotenji had produced a powerful sound wave to open up another hole in the barrier between dimensions.

"Hooray! I did it! Who's the man! Who's the man! Who's-"

"Gotenji!" Juumara scolded harshly. "Stop that now and let's go before the portal closes!"

On that note, she shot past Gotenji and leaped into the portal first. Gotenji grinned wildly and followed, with Piccolo heading in right after them. The portal closed seconds later.

The once holy sanctuary located in the Heavenly Realm was now in ruins. While the palace was still standing, even in spite of missing some pillars now, it had been horribly damaged during the attack a short while ago. Deep gouges now scarred the tower floor, and trees were either severed off or tilted in precarious angles. Sitting in the middle of all the destruction amongst some rubble, Majin Buu continued to feast on his prizes.

It was just as the demon had figured. Those people just now really did make yummy chocolate candy; they had been so good that he almost regretted killing that human feel earlier, or that he had left those other three locked inside that boring room. He was still quite hungry.

So engrossed in polishing off his candy, Buu didn't notice the occurrence taking place a short distance behind him. Gotenji's portal had opened in the same manner as Buu's did prior, only his was blue. Juumara was the first to emerge, subsequent was Gotenji himself, and finally Piccolo tumbled out. The portal immediately closed itself back up.

The three almost immediately spotted Majin Buu sitting nearby with his back turned to them.

"Yo, yo, yo, Majin Buu!" Gotenji called. "We've come out of there too!"

"This time we won't let you get away!" Juumara vowed, her aura flaring around her.

"Oh? You took long enough," Buu taunted, turning around to grin at the trio, his mouth stained with chocolate. The Majin's eyes widened in surprise when he finally noticed Gotenji's appearance. He stood to his feet. "Huh? You seem a little different."

"Fool, I've changed more than just a little!" Gotenji crowed, crossing his arms. "I've become incredibly, incredibly, incredibly strong!"

* * *

Thanks to the ever-handy Rou Kaioushin, Goku, Kaioushin and Kibito were now able to watch the events developing back on Earth with a crystal ball. Growing too anxious when he couldn't sense the ki of the Fusions, as well as that of Majin Buu, the dead Saiyajin just had to know what was happening. Because of this, they had been witnesses to Majin Buu's assault on Juunana-gou and everyone else out on the Lookout, however, Goku still had hope. Even with their still being no signs of Piccolo, the kids or Amara, he still had hope. While things looked grim, he believed that something would still come up as long as they still had the Dragonballs. Plus, they still had their secret weapon against Buu in Gohan.

So he was quite overjoyed when Piccolo and two unfamiliar Super Saiyajin, who he knew had to be the Fusion warriors, abruptly appeared on the crystal ball. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey, it's Piccolo!" Goku said, elated.

"But Goku-san, who are those two with him?" Kaioushin inquired.

Goku stared at the two fighters pensively. Then his expression lit up in elation as comprehension dawned on him.

"I know! Those are the two Fusion warriors I've been telling you about," Goku explained.

"Wow," Kaioushin said, impressed. "So that's what Fusion looks like."

"That's not just Fusion!" Goku said, looking particularly. "That's also Super Saiyajin Three! I don't believe it! It took me years to master it, yet the boys learned it so easily. I'm impressed! Awesome, just awesome!"

* * *

Piccolo's eyes narrowed, as he noticed the chocolate smeared around Buu's mouth. The unaccustomed knot of cold dread that had formed in his stomach since Majin Buu appeared grew even colder.

"Where are the others?"

Majin Buu blinked at Piccolo several times. He then flashed the three a feral grin, tauntingly rubbing his belly. All three fighters gasped and gaped at the heartless monster in disbelief when they quickly caught onto his silent hint.

"No...you didn't...!" Juumara snarled disbelievingly. "_No, not Juunana-gou! And Kuririn and Hoshi, too!"_

"Damn you!" Piccolo barked in helpless outrage. This was yet another instance where he wished he had the strength to fight Majin Buu. He really wanted to kill him right now.

"Y-you ate them all? E-each and everyone of them?" Gotenji stammered, trembling in disbelief.

"Yes. And they were all very delicious!" Majin Buu chuckled as he stood, taking the back of his arm to wash chocolate stains and crumbs off his face.

"Dammit! Now we can't even use the Dragonballs!" Piccolo growled.

However, Juumara and Gotenji barely heard him. They had become ensnared into their own private hells, their expressions bleak and dark, and their eyes were shut close. Unbearable rage swirled around in their brains at the beast's atrocious crimes, first Vegeta and Gohan...and now this!

FLASH!

Piccolo eyes widened when he suddenly felt both Juumara's and Gotenji's ki increase, especially Juumara's. Whirling around, the Namekseijin watched the two in astonishment, while Majin Buu just laughed, as peals of lightning crackled around the two furious Fusion warriors

"I will make you pay...!" Juumara vowed, her voice low and dangerous as she reopened her eyes, her turquoise eyes cold and spiteful.

"For each and every one of them!" Gotenji grounded out through gritted teeth opening his eyes as well. They were reflection of the eyes of his mother-aunt.

Unable to hold it in any longer, the two screamed out their rage and anguish, invoking all of their Super Saiyajin strength. The light of their auras illuminated the Lookout and the once peaceful sanctuary shuddered harshly from the Fusions' incredible power, pushing the slabs of rubble that use to be apart of God's Palace's roof all the way across the courtyard. Piccolo gnashed his fangs as he tried to retain his footing on the floor and at the same time trying to shield his eyes from the brilliant flare with his cape. Majin Buu on the other hand was unfazed by it all, still laughing.

Soon everything stilled. Piccolo shook himself and looked back over his shoulder, gaping and gasping when he saw the warriors. Piccolo stared in amazement as he looked over at Juumara; her gold-white ponytail was now spikier and slightly longer, a furious gold nimbus intermixed with electricity seared around her. The Namekseijin's eyes abruptly widened as his brain finally grasped the comprehension of the situation...

_*Juumara has went beyond Super Saiyajin!* _Piccolo realized. _*Just like Gohan did against Cell all those years ago, but she's stronger. Much stronger than even Gohan had been that day, and Vegeta when he fought Buu!*_

"Congratulations..." Juumara started.

"You've completely pissed us off!" Gotenji finished.

With nothing else to say, the two lunged at Majin Buu at the same time. Spanning the space between them swiftly, the two Fusions delivered a simultaneous shoulder tackle. The Majin went smashing through the palace, demolishing the building entirely as he flew on through. As both Juumara and Gotenji pursued him, below on the devastated courtyard, Piccolo gaped at the rubble that was once God's Palace in wide-eyed horror.

"T-the palace!" he stammered dismayingly.

At that moment, neither of the Fusions cared for the well being of the Lookout as their focus was to hurt Majin Buu. A task they seemed to be doing a really good job at as they assailed the fiend with bone-jarring and unforgiving blows. Juumara and Gotenji simultaneously scissor-kicked Buu higher into the atmosphere, where he flipped over and over several times before finally stopping himself.

Majin Buu snarled wrathfully down at the smug looking pair below him, one regarding him with usual cockiness while the other glared at him in pure hatred. While it angered him that he was being systematically pummelled by the hybrid warriors, at the same time the demon was having the time of his life. Not even fighting the other warrior with the big hair like the boy below him had been this fun. But at the same time, they were still making him mad. He would make them pay!

Both Gotenji and Juumara stared up in surprise when Buu suddenly folded himself over into a ball.

"Eh? What the hell is he up to?" Gotenj wondered.

Buu then launched himself at his enemies.

"Damn it!" Juumara swore.

Both warriors immediately jumped to the side to avoid the oncoming demon. The Majin was disappointed that he missed, however, he immediately cheered up when he spotted Piccolo still gawking at the ruined palace beneath him! If he couldn't get the Fusions at the moment, the green one would do instead.

"Piccolo-san!" Gotenji exclaimed.

"Look out!" Juumara shouted.

Hearing them, Piccolo looked up and momentarily stared in shock, before he hastily leaped out of Buu's path. Meanwhile, Buu dented a crater into the courtyard floor he smashed on through. Majin Buu was unfazed as he propelled through the tiled flooring before roughly exiting out the other side, Majin Buu quickly turned himself back around and hurled himself back up through the Tenkai, engraving yet another crater in the courtyard-much to Piccolo's dismay as he shot upward.

With a fierce roar, Majin Buu increased speed, swerving in a blur all around the Tenkai, unsuccessfully getting a hit on his enemies. During the process, Buu managed to dissect the tower into several sections. Piccolo could only watch in complete horror.

"I-I don't believe it!" he stammered, aghast, as he slowly paced over to a piece of the palace that had landed on the floating rubble that use to be a part of a courtyard, reaching down he remorsefully picked it up and stared at it hard. He'd had so many memories there, his most memorable one he'd expelled himself away from his good half-Kami- so the goody-two shoes could become guardian of the plant while he went down to the earth and rampaged over it until he was eventually stopped. Snarling in rage, Piccolo glared death at Majin Buu then looked over to the Fusion warriors. "Juumara! Gotenji! Make that sonuvabitch pay!"

Truthfully, Juumara and Gotenji weren't really paying Piccolo any mind. They were too busy trying to keep tracks of Buu's movements so they wouldn't be caught off guard. The spinning demon had ascended higher into the air and was about to make his U-turn.

"Enough of this!" Juumara snarled, fed up with Buu's antics. Flaring up her power, she raced towards Buu just as he was making his way back towards her and Gotenji.

Buu's eyes widened as Juumara put on a burst of speed and slipped under him, then- CRACK! The creature howled in pain as the aggressive woman plunged her foot hard into his spine, forcing him to unroll himself and straighten out. Grabbing a hold of Buu's head tentacle, Juumara retracted him in, ramming her knee harshly into his already badly injured spine, fracturing it in half this time. Swerving around him, Juumara sent him earthbound with a wicked spinning roundhouse kick to the mouth. Four pointy teeth tinged with blood went scattering in every direction as Buu fell.

"Yes!" Piccolo cheered, smiling.

"My turn!" Gotenji grinned wildly and extended his arms, hands flat. "RENZOKU SUPER DONUTS!"

The child warrior hurtled ki blasts at the Majin and they struck him simultaneously. When the radiance ultimately faded away nothing more than a yellow volleyball.

"You did it! You sealed Majin Buu away!" Piccolo enthused.

"Nah, he'll break out of it soon," Gotenji admitted as he drifted over to grab the volleyball. Gotenji gave both Juumara and Piccolo a knowing grin. "You two won't to help with this next attack?"

"Fine," Piccolo agreed.

"Forget it!" Juumara said. "Besides, you can't stay like that for too long, and I need you like you are to defeat Buu."

"Don't worry, I already know," Gotenji assured her. "That's why I'm in a rush. ULTRA BUU BUU VOLLEYBALL! Here I go!"

"Hmm..." Piccolo replied, looking uncertain about the success of the brash warrior's latest goofy-titled attack.

"No, you have it wrong!" Gotenji said. "When I say 'here I go', Piccolo, you say 'ok'. Do it right before he escapes! Now let's try it again. Here I go!"

"Ohhh...OK!" Piccolo said, getting it right this time, though not without a certain amount of embarrassment for agreeing to this.

"Pass!" Gotenji shouted, hitting the ball to Piccolo.

"S-set!" Piccolo shouted, sending the ball back to Gotenji as it came his way.

"SERVE!" Gotenji finished. With a whoop of excitement, the child Fusion spun around and delivered a wicked kick to the oncoming ball, sending it on a one-way trip earthward.

Gotenji chuckled as he peered downward after the descending beast. "Sugoi! He sure makes an awesome meteor!"

Juumara shook her head and muttered, "Children."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	52. Gohan's ReEntry Into The War

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters from it. Just the ones I created. **

**Chapter Fifty-Two: Gohan's Re-Entry Into The War**

* * *

Buried deep within the earth, Majin Buu hurt all over at the moment. Though, this didn't worry him too much. He knew that whatever part of him was broken or aching now would just be a vague memory like every other wound that's ever been inflicted on him. However, that would only come until he had recovered some energy to heal himself. That last attack had taken a lot more out of the Majin than he would care to admit.

_*Damn them!* _he seethed in quiet rage. _*I'll kill them all. I'll kill each and every one of them*_

They have won this round, but as soon as recovered all bets were off! There would be no more fooling around. Buu intended to use every technique in his arsenal to crush those insects and be rid of them once and for all. Even if it required him having to destroy the entire planet. Still, he knew he was going to have to be careful when he confronted them again. They were nothing like the Gotenji and Juumara he fought back in the Room of Spirit and Time, these two were now at a level that was actually a threat to his well-being. He knew they were probably planning his death right that very moment.

That thought sent another surge of rage through the demon. Fearing the possibility of his life coming to an end- that was a feeling he wasn't used to at all. Even before his original split from his Good side, death was something he never had to worry about. Because before now there had not been anyone strong enough to get the job done. Not even that guy, the one who had first told him the existence of Gotenji and Juumara, could do it.

Buu laughed quietly to himself as he felt his energy starting to return. Quickly, he had regained it all and immediately went through the process of revitalizing himself. But then...

FLASH!

Buu growled through gritted fangs as he sensed all three of his enemies coming straight towards them. At first, his immediate response to this was to hurry up regenerating himself, then go out and greet those hateful three with a surprise attack, sending them on a one-way trip to the afterlife with the rest of his friends. Then, Buu tossed the idea away and did something quite remarkable...

He decided to wait.

Yes, maybe the reason they had the upperhand so far was because he was always rushing headlong into their fights? He had believed he could beat them with brute force alone; after all, it had always worked for him in the past. Nevertheless, Buu now realized that he couldn't continue to do that with opponents like Juumara and Gotenji. He needed to be trickier to overcome them. He needed some kind of plan!

Grinning to himself, Majin Buu brought his ki all the way down to nonexistence, and then proceeded to listen, wait, and plot.

* * *

Both Juumara and Gotenji hurtled alongside each other in the direction they saw Buu fall, their Super Saiyajin auras burning around them. Piccolo flew a few feet behind them, face stern. The Namekseijin turned his head this way and that as the hunt for Majin Buu continued. He had just sensed him a moment ago, but now the evil creature's dark and tainted ki-signature was utterly gone.

Majin Buu was hiding.

If that was so, the Fusion warriors must have really damaged the all-powerful monster, as hard as he found that to believe. That's certainly not a discredit to either Gotenji or Juumara, but because Buu has been able to outlive two very strong opponents in Gohan and Vegeta, Piccolo just never thought he would see the day where Majin Buu would actually hide from someone. Still though, his gut instincts and experience with these close-to-the-end-of-Earth situations was reminding him not to be too confident in that fact.

*_I'll have to be very vigilant, then_,* Piccolo warned himself while continuing to follow other warriors in silence.

Up in front of the Namekseijin, beside Juumara, Gotenji suddenly scowled as something was aggravating him.

"Hey Kaasan, I can't feel Majin Buu any more." He turned to his mother-aunt for answers.

"You're right, I can't sense him either," Juumara replied, scowling.

"Does it mean that we finally finished Majin Buu?" Gotenji asked, all of a sudden looking hopeful.

Juumara didn't share his optimism so much. "I doubt it. Majin Buu's too horrible of a beast to be destroyed so easily. No, I think he's masking his ki from us."

Gotenji's hopeful look immediately shifted to slight disappointment. Then he appeared hopeful again. "But what if you're wrong, Mother? What if we really did-"

"Enough!" Juumara sharply interrupted Gotenji; silence immediately gripped the child warrior's voice at the note of cold anger that tinged his mother-aunt's voice.

"Hey, down there!" Piccolo called, pointing. "Where that massive crater in the ground is..." Both Gotenji and Juumara saw the new gigantic scar Chikyuu was sporting. "That's where Buu most likely landed."

The three moved in closer.

It didn't take the three very long to reach their intended destination, although Piccolo stayed back at a cautious distance. The fusion warriors hovered less than three hundred feet above the obscured monster, the two wordlessly raised their power levels, hoping this would get their opponent to come out of hiding. And they waited.

Beneath the earth, Majin Buu growled furiously as he could feel those pests looming over him. He may not have been nowhere near the smartest Majin ever created, but he was still smart enough to know what his enemies were trying to do. Well, it wouldn't work! While he was more than ready for another round with them, he wouldn't show up until _he _decided to show up.

Up on the surface, Juumara's sensuous lips curled in irritation when Majin Buu still failed to appear five minutes later.

"What the hell is he doing down there?" she wondered, annoyed.

"Maybe he is dead like I've been telling you," Gotenji figured, crossing his arms in typical Vegeta fashion. "Or if not that, at least fairly weakened now."

Although Juumara didn't grace her son-nephew with a response, she still pondered if maybe he was right. She _knew _he wasn't dead; even if she couldn't sense his ki, she could still sense his foul presence underneath those rocks. Had that last attack hurt Buu this much? Confidence swelled up within her. But even as she wondered that, she couldn't shake off the feeling that someone wasn't right about this.

"Yoo-hoo! Majin Buu, I hope you can hear me!" Gotenji yelled down into the chasm beneath him, knowing that the Majin would hear what he had to say. Gotenji continued, "While you're down there sleeping, you're missing out the opportunity to fight me and my mom-err, well aunt. Umm, my Mom-Aunt. Man that can be confusing...But anyway, she and I won't be able to stay like this for very long, and it'll take us both another hour to reach this level of strength again!"

"What is he doing?" Piccolo wondered to himself.

Juumara wondered the same thing, though she didn't say anything.

Several more minutes passed by and Majin Buu still hadn't showed up.

"Argh! Man, I thought that would've worked!" Gotenji said, irritated.

"No more waiting, then!" Juumara declared, moving beside Gotenji. "We don't have anymore time to mess around. We'll be splitting up soon, so we need to strike him hard and now!"

"Right!" Gotenji agreed.

Unbeknownst to the two of them, Gotenji's little tactic to try and provoke Buu out had worked more than either of them could ever realize.

Increasing his power, furious pink flames exploded outward around his muscular body and expanded, easily tossing the rocks off him. Majin Buu heaved himself off the ground and up into the air, stopping when he'd reached his enemies. He beamed viciously as he faced the three warriors; if only they knew what he was about to do to them.

Juumara scowled, realizing something. _*No, Majin Buu's not weakened after all.*_

"So, did you miss me?" he taunted, that demented smile never leaving his face.

"Yeah, we missed you so much we've decided to put you right back into the ground!" Gotenji shot back.

"And permanently!" Juumara added in.

Both Fusions blazed with power as they simultaneously raced towards Majin Buu. Majin Buu sneered as he easily avoided both Juumara's and Gotenji's initial swings. The Majin was swift to counterstrike with a large ball of pink energy. The Fusions quickly leapt to either side and the attack landed in the precise spot Buu resided in a few minutes ago. An explosion billowed up from within the crater almost immediately, causing the rocks to fall listlessly back onto the earth in the guise of ash and dust.

"HAAAAAA!" Juumara's and Gotenji's battle cry rung loudly through the air as they did a counterattack of their own, firing a combined energy blast at the creature. Majin Buu countered by raising both his hands to match their unified beam with one from either hand. The gold bolt and the two pink bolts met between the three fighters, and then collided into each other. The energy bolts clashed for few moments before-

KAA-BOOM!

From Piccolo's viewpoint, the only thing he could see was the smoke that followed the explosion; however his incredibly long Namekseijin hearing range could make out the distinct sound of fists and feet meeting in a vicious whirl within the ball of haze.

The former Kami-sama frowned_, _thinking,_ *They should stop dancing with him and finish him off already!* _Piccolo thought frustratedly. _*Both Juumara and Gotenji only have fifteen minutes left!*_

Abruptly, the three came bursting through the haze, still in the midst of trading blows. This continued for four minutes more, until Buu had finally had enough and simultaneously planted both of his boots into the chests of his enemies, using them like springboards as he dashed away towards the east. Juumara and Gotenji were quick to re-gather their composure and pursue their target. As the three flew further into the wasteland, a chain of explosions set off all over the place.

Buu had just jumped backwards to avoid a punch from Gotenji, when Juumara caught him off guard, wrapping her arms around his neck. With a look of alarm, the demon struggled to get free, but the grip he was ensnared in was stronger than steel. Juumara laughed wickedly as she began to rotate while still holding Buu captive; the two had picked up speed to the point they resembled a tornado. The said tornado arced earthward, smashing through cracked terrain. Moments later, Juumara reappeared beside Gotenji, looking proud of herself.

"Gotenji, now!" Juumara ordered.

"RENZOKU SHINE SHINE MISSILE!" Gotenji howled, firing a multitude of energy blasts down upon his enemy, pulverizing the terrain.

"Hey, stop that now!" Piccolo shouted as he drew down beside the Fusion warriors.

"Why? We have Majin Buu on the run now," Juumara replied.

"But if you destroy everything on the Earth as we know it!"

"What do you mean?" Juumara asked.

"And does it really matter?" Gotenji asked. "There's no one left alive down here, right?"

"That may be, but there's still the Dragonballs!" Piccolo answered. "If even one of the Dragonballs are destroyed, we won't be able to revive all the people Buu killed and restore all the damage!"

Understanding the truth behind that, Gotenji stopped in his attack. But just as soon as he did, Majin Buu erupted out of the ground a short distance away. Hearing him, the Saiyajin hurriedly spun around and fired at ki bolt at him simultaneously. But Buu was ready and avoided the two effortlessly then returned fire, only to have that negated by another double-team ki attack from the fusions.

"Gotenji! Distract Majin Buu for me, there's a technique I want to try out on him!" Juumara instructed, a very Saiyajin grin plastered across her smooth and too-perfect features.

"Right!" Gotenji nodded briskly before rushing towards Buu to engage in battle with him.

As Gotenji and Majin Buu traded blows, a ring of ki surrounded Juumara while she stretched her hands forward.

"Hey, that's..."

"Take this, Majin Buu!" Juumara shouted, smirking. "SOLAR WAVE!"

Sensing his mother-aunt's attack coming towards him, Gotenji went down low and struck Majin Buu in the groin, then flew off to a safe distance. He was very surprised when the djinn yowled in pain and folded over, grasping the middle of his white pants. He'd been very positive Buu didn't have anything down there. The pain still hadn't completely conceded when Juumara's attack hit.

Standing alone, Piccolo watched Juumara's attack strike home while wearing a small smirk on his face. But then Piccolo's expression turned sour, he could still very much feel Majin Buu's strong and pure evil ki.

*_Oh no, they only have about five minutes left now_,* he thought gravely.

Further away from the Namekseijin, both Juumara and Gotenji weren't really carrying about how much time they had left, as their primary target was to try and take Buu out before they split up again. But could they do it within the five minutes they have left?

Well, they planned to try their hardest as they charged the diabolical monster. Lucky for them, Majin Buu had been unprepared when Gotenji, with blurring speed, dropped from his mother-aunt's side and went underneath Buu's legs to get behind him. Curious as to what the two were trying to do, Buu twisted his head/neck around to glare at Gotenji with cold, accessing eyes. Unfortunately for him, that left him wide opened to Juumara.

The Saiyajin-Jinzouningen warrior quickly took advantage of this by shooting a flaming ki blast right through Buu's stomach, extracting a howl of pain. The demon then looked down and saw the gaping, burnt hole left in his stomach. She would pay! But before he could make due with that vow, he had barely healed his wound when Gotenji snuck up behind him and struck him hard in his spine with a punch, no doubt snapping it into. Raising above him, Juumara came back down hard on Buu's face with an elbow, knocking him out of the sky. The Fusion warriors quickly pursued him.

Buu was just about to crash when Gotenji reappeared out of nowhere underneath him, grinning mischievously in his kneeling position, Buu landed none-too-softly across the boy's outstretched knee, which struck his already injured spine. Buu was about to slid onto the ground when Juumara rematerialized above him and kicked him in the face, sending him sliding ten meters back across the rugged terrain.

Still not down for the count, Majin Buu had looked to regain his footing and attack his foes again. But the farthest he'd got was up to his knees, because Juumara had her hands outspread on either side, and Gotenji's by his right side, both standing in very familiar poses.

"Say bai bai, Majin Buu!" Gotenji chuckled, while thinking that after this next attack Buu would finally be destroyed and the world along with the entire universe would once again be safe.

"FINAL-" Juumara commenced.

"KAMEHAME-" Gotenji's voice added along.

Back up in the air, Piccolo's sharp, white fangs flashed with glee as he grinned at the picture down below. _*Yes! This was it! Crush him now!*_

"FLA-"

"H-"

Simultaneously, both Fusions paused in those final words that would help them beat Majin Buu for good, and then- "POOF!"

Juumara, Piccolo, and Majin Buu watched as smoke encompassed Gotenji, and then dissolved, revealing Gotenji in his base form again. However, before anyone could comment on this, right in front of Buu's and Piccolo's eyes, the two Fusion fighters separated completely.

The four stared back at Buu in matching stupefaction.

At this, Piccolo gasped and gawped.

Majin Buu simply smirked coldly.

* * *

"Dammit! They've gone back to normal!" Goku cried in alarm, both Kibito and Kaioushin looking down into crystal ball in equal shock. Standing, Goku whirled towards Rou Kaioushin and Gohan. "Grandpa Kaioushin-sama! Is Gohan ready yet? The others back on Earth need his help right now"

After a long silence, the old god turned ancient, narrow eyes onto the young man.

"Yes, he's ready. In fact he's been ready about five minutes ago," he answered casually, then turned his attentions back to his comic, ignoring the immediate look of bewilderment on the others' faces.

"Five minutes!" Gohan exclaimed in disbelief. He glared at Rou Kaioushin in outrage. "What is wrong with you? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Baka! Because it makes things more dramatic this way!"

Gohan was about to respond with a angry retort, however, he decided not to waste time doing that as he knew the others back on Earth were in a dire situation and really needed him. He clambored up to his feet.

"Quick! How do I change into this ultimate warrior thing?" Gohan asked.

"Just change into that Super whatmacallit you Saiyajin are so proud of," Rou Kaioushin explained. "Gather up your ki like you do for that."

"Like a Super Saiyajin?" Gohan repeated. He nodded in understanding. "Okay."

Just like he was instructed to do so, Gohan brought his energy to surface and let it go. A storm of colossal power exploded from the teenager, whipping out ferociously at everyone and everything; being so close to Gohan, Rou Kaioushin was completely bowled over. Eastern Kaioushin and Kibito had their arms crossed out in front of their faces in a ki-block. It was all the two could do to keep themselves from suffering the same fate as Kaioushin's ancestor. However, the only person who wasn't trying to shield themselves was Goku.

Goku stared into the eye of the storm at his son in sheer amazement. It was just like with Cell all over again when Gohan turned Super Saiyajin Two for the very first time.

Slowly, Gohan's power had quieted completely. As Chou Gohan, nothing had changed about the teen's appearance at all, except for his hair. It was fashioned like it would be if he really had turned into a Super Saiyajin just then, however, his hair had kept its natural black color.

"You dumbass! You didn't have change so close to me!" Rou Kaioushin berated as he sat back up.

Gohan could vaguely hear Rou Kaioushin, as his attention was he too busy staring down at himself as if he was just seeing the real him for the first time.

"Amazing," Gohan muttered. "Dad, this is amazing!"

"You really are somethin', Gohan," Goku agreed, smiling proudly. "Just by looking at you, one would think you hadn't even transform at all. I wonder if you can get even stronger than this..."

"I'll take him to planet Earth," Kibito volunteered.

"Good luck, Gohan-san," Kaioushin said, holding his hand toward the teenager..

"Thank you, Kaioushin-sama," Gohan replied, shaking his hand

Finally, father and son were now standing face-to-face, preparing to say goodbye.

"Unfortnately, this will probably be the last we get to see each other for a while," Goku said sadly. "I want to see you close up now that you're grown up."

"Dad..."

Goku smiled. "Do your best, Gohan! Kill Majin Buu!"

"Yes sir!" Gohan promised.

The two then moved closer to share one last, final hug. After a long moment, the two broke apart, and Gohan left his father's side to go join Kibito in powerful strides. Just as he reached Kaioushin's attendant, Gohan turned around and gave his father the thumbs-up.

"Goodbye, Dad."

Goku wordlessly returned the sentiment to him by giving him a thumbs-up of his own.

Then Kibito placed a hand on Gohan's right shoulder, and the two vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

Majin Buu dissolved into fits of maniacal giggles while he repaired his damaged body. Yes, being patient for once had finally paid off! He grinned that old sadistic grin as he leered at the four soon to be his victims, his eyes glinting with a very deadly glint.

"Ha! Now you're mine!" he hissed, eyes darkening.

Both Koji and Goten were trembling, knowing that this was all over for them, but Juuhachi-gou quickly stepped in front of her son and his best friend protectively.

Like all Saiyajin in situation such as these, Amara didn't cower, instead she bristled. Her hair rising in spikes as she glared coldly at the beast who took her family away from her.

"Bastard! If you think I'm going to just lay down and let you kill me without lifting a finger to protect myself, then you're stupider than you look!" she snarled, and with a silent scream she powered-up to Super Saiyajin. Abeam her, the others had to shield themselves as the angry full-blooded Saiyajin's power whipped viciously at them.

Suddenly, Piccolo swiftly alighted between his comrades and his enemy, immediately setting his dark eyes on Majin Buu.

"Fiend! If you want them then you'll have to go through me! I want allow you to take their lives!" Piccolo growled protectively, drawing back in a fighting pose. Not really caring that he really didn't have the power level to stand up to Majin Buu and protect the others, he could only hope to distract Majin Buu long enough for them to hide somewhere and wait till they could fuse again. And undoubtedly, Majin Buu would kill him, but at least Earth would still have a fighting chance to survive.

In response to this, Majin Buu only cackled in jeering mirth at the Namekseijin.

"Out of the way, Namekseijin! I don't need anyone babying me!" Amara snarled, crouching in readiness, hate and revulsion flashing across her beautiful face toward Buu. "I'm the Saiyajin no Oujo, and I won't back down from anybody! And if I must die, I'll do so with honor!"

Majin Buu stopped laughing long enough to respond. "Feh! In all your current states I can destroy you before you even blink!" he boasted, licking his lips. "Oh, I'm going to so enjoy breaking you insects in half! Then once I'm done with you, I'll destroy this planet as well!"

FLASH!

Everyone there immediately looked up, as a new and incredibly powerful ki had set off all their senses. And it was aiming straight towards them _fast_.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	53. A New PowerUp For Buu

**Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ or the characters from it. Just the ones I created. **

**Chapter Fifty-Three: A New Power-Up For Buu**

* * *

Thick silence reigned over the battlefield, as hostility between the surviving Z-Senshi and Majin Buu were momentarily forgotten. All eyes were focused intently onto the center of the sky. It was there that a new, stupendous ki emanated from just a few moments ago, and both sides were wondering who in the world could this newcomer be.

"This power...who is it?" Piccolo was the first speak, grimacing

"It's even greater than Majin Buu's power!" Amara added, just as stunned.

Buu growled threateningly at the princess before glaring back at the sky. No! This power wasn't superior to him! No one was greater than Majin Buu! What was going on here?

"But are they friend or foe?" Juuhachi-gou asked, voicing the quiet suspicions in both Piccolo's and Amara's mind.

Beside his mother, Koji hoped with all his heart that the power they were all sensing was his father. It could happen; after all, Goten's dad was dead and he got to come back for a day. So surely his father could be allowed to return.

None of them had to wait any longer as a shape soon appeared in the part of the sky they were eying. As the silhouette hurtled closer and closer towards them, any thoughts of it might being Vegeta was quickly tossed aside as this figure was much taller than the deceased Saiyajin no Ouji, and much more broad-shouldered.

_*Could it be Goku_?* Piccolo thought hopefully, very familiar with the child-like Saiyajin showing up exactly when the planet needed him the most.

After a suspenseful few moments more, the figure had finally fully come into everyone's line of vision.

Piccolo, Amara, Juuhachi-gou, and Koji gasped and gaped.

And Goten beamed with what could only be described as utter joy.

Majin Buu snarled angrily.

"It's my Oniisan! Gohan-kun's back!" he declared cheerily, jumping up into the air.

Piccolo, wide-eyed and speechless, watched the dark-haired teenager fly pass them to touch down in front of Majin Buu.

"G-Gohan!..You're alive!" the Namekseijin, shocked.

"Gohan-san!" Koji enthused. Standing beside him, his mother looked just as glad to see the half-Saiyajin back as well.

Amara said nothing, watching the son of Kakarott in quiet amazement.

After staring at Majin Buu for a long, intense moment, Gohan finally turned around to face his younger brother and his friends. His hard handsome features softening to a small degree.

"Long time no see, you guys," he said, smiling.

"Big Brother…we thought you were dead!" Goten replied. "Where've you been?"

"Yeah, I had a pretty close call, but Kaioushin-sama saved me and took me back to his world," Gohan explained. He then swung his full gaze back onto Majin Buu, his face scrunched in unvieled malice. "Up until now, that's where I've been."

Unnoticed by the others, Piccolo stared at his young pupil in utter shock as he couldn't get over different Gohan sounded. Or how he appeared, now dressed in his father's gi.

"There's something unusual about Gohan," Juuhachi-gou said, voicing Piccolo's thoughts.

"That's an understatement," Amara replied, her voice lacking its usual biting tone. "The way he's speaking...the way he's acting. It's pure Saiyajin."

"Hn," Gohan grunted as he suddenly realized something. "Say, where are Okaasan and the others?"

"They were killed by Buu!" Koji explained.

"What?" Gohan asked, eyes widening. "Even Kaasan and Dende?"

"Everyone but us!" Goten angrily said.

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou grimaced bitterly at the reminder, as the two had once again lost people important to them at the hands of Majin Buu.

"Damn!" Gohan swore, his face contorted in fury. "I can't believe Dende's dead too...The Dragonballs were our last hope."

"They were delicious after I turned them into chocolate!" Majin Buu boasted, rubbing his stomach at the memory.

Gohan was about to say something, however, he froze in place as something triggered off his senses. _*No, they're wrong, I feel a faint life-force..."_

Majin Buu suddenly started cackling.

"I remember you now! I blew you away a while back!" Majin Buu jeered, a calculating gleam glittering in his eyes as his enemies still failed to realize that they were really nothing more than mere pawns in his devious scheme. "So you got stronger, big deal! I'm much stronger now too. So what makes you think you can fight me now?"

At Buu's statement Gohan smiled a smile of bitter fury. "Fight you? No Buu, I plan to kill you." And on that note-

KRAK!

No one had even seen Gohan move as he sprung forward and viciously rammed his fist into the side of Buu's face. The evil Majin went plowing through the rocky terrain; the trench that he dug with his back got half a mile long before he stopped. Majin Buu hissed furiously as he sat back up, gnashing sharp fangs; that blow hurt him more then he hated to admit.

In front of him, Gohan stood as still as a statue, his right fist stretched and his face stone cold. Hurriedly, Majin Buu jumped up to his feet and ragingly charged toward Gohan, lashing out with fists. The demon grew more irate by the second as Gohan ducked and dove underneath each blow aimed at him with very little effort. Buu tried for a roundhouse counterstrike, but Gohan caught it. Buu tried to attack with his free hand, however before he could Gohan stopped him with a hard knee shot to the gut, knocking the breath completely out of Buu. With a battle cry, Gohan kneed him in the face again and then proceeded to immediately devastated him with a vicious cyclone of fists and feet. Cruelly punching Buu again in his now severely bruised face, Buu went flying backwards into a unforgiving hillside.

"Yay! Brother's doing it!" Goten decreed happily.

"Gohan's so cool!" Koji said admirably.

Gohan waited patiently for Buu to rise up again. He didn't have to wait for very long as Buu came lunging out of the ground and through the air like a shark in water pursuing its prey. Gohan wasn't really surprised when Majin Buu reached him and then vanished.

Using his instincts to their fullest, Gohan casually flung his head to the side, avoiding an attempted sneak-attack ki blast. Swiftly curving, Gohan wrapped a hand around Buu's ankle that was vice-grip, just as Buu was about to kick at him. With an even louder battle-cry, he slung Buu high into the air and fired a large blast of energy after him. Buu exploded as soon as the energy bolt collided into him.

"Hooray! Hooray! Gohan destroyed Majin Buu!" Koji and Goten cheered as they clasped hands and danced around in rejoice.

However, Gohan didn't share his enthusiasm, his eyes instead glued onto the ball of smoke lingering in the air. Soon the smoke started to dissipate and-

Majin Buu was nowhere to be found.

"He's not dead." Gohan's uncharacteristic flat tone put a stop to the short celebration. Everyone glanced upward and gasped when they noticed Buu wasn't there as well. "No, that level of attack wasn't enough to do him in."

Where was he-

Gohan and the others swiftly swung their gaze sidelong when a noise like the earth tearing caught their attention. They watched as a fissure ripped through the terra firma and headed straight toward Gohan.

Gohan braced himself when a fountain of pink, fiery light exploded out of the ground halfway away from him. In the center of the light many rocks of various shapes and sizes floated out of the chasm, and without warning the rocks shot forth with deadly intent. Focused, Gohan sidestepped most of all the rocks, however he was totally caught off guard when a large rock came flying towards him-which Majin Buu happened to be riding aboard it. Glancing up, Majin Buu's mouth stretched opened and he spat out pink fire.

Gohan grunted as the attack slammed into his chest and smoke wrapped around the half-Saiyajin like a cocoon. Majin Buu grinned evilly as he saw he once again had the upper hand and was intent on taking full advantage. Shrieking, Majin Buu began flinging a barrage of ki spheres into the haze that already encircled the powerful warrior, a chain of explosions erupting where Gohan was last seen.

"Gohan!" Goten cried worriedly, he looked like he was about to step forward and Piccolo held an arm out to prolong him. "But…but what about Gohan-san?" he questioned while staring up at the green warrior with a glum expression.

Koji immediately placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder to console him. "Don't worry about Gohan. As strong as he's gotten, Majin Buu can't even hold a candle to him."

"Really?" Goten asked optimistically. Koji nodded in reassurance.

"See, look!" Koji pointed up ahead smiling. Goten looked as well and beamed in exultation when the two half-Saiyajin boys observed the smoke dissipating and revealed a still very alive and healthy Son Gohan, his muscled arms crossed out in front of him in a ki-block.

Majin Buu on the other hand wasn't as happy as the boys to see Gohan still alive. What would it take for him to take down this annoying fool? Ah yes, the plan! If he stuck to his plan then he would be able to obtain victory, but there was a slight problem. He couldn't really put his plan into action right now because the timing still wasn't perfect. So, he would just have to survive Gohan until the time came and then…a crooked grin stretched his lips at all the horrible things he would do when that wonderful moment arrived.

Dropping his arms, Gohan smirked wryly. "Ha! Don't tell me that's the best you can do, Majin Buu?"

Majin Buu took great exception to that and grimaced very wrathfully at him, steam surging out of the holes on the side of his head. Buu was about to just say the hell with the plan he'd conjured and destroy everything, he would not be made of a fool of! But no, he was determined to stick with his plot! He wouldn't let his anger get the better of him…well, at least until he's attained his _prizes_.

Majin Buu's features suddenly darkened as he grinned in mad delight; ah yes, just like the little boy with the crazy hair he could smell the scent of that annoying woman who'd he turned into an egg and stomped on it, on Gohan.

"Dumb Earthling, why don't you give up already! If you do I promise I'll turn you into an egg and smash you into pieces…just like I did your mother!"

Even with his heightened senses, Majin Buu hadn't even seen Gohan move, until a very sharp pain spiked through his entire body. His eyes wide as saucers, his body stiffened in place from where the half-Saiyajin plunged his fist into Buu's gut. That really hurt!

With an angry growl, Gohan battered Buu some more with another violent flow of blows before sending him colliding bone-jarringly into the side of a mountain.

And as Buu fell on the other side he started to wonder if enraging Son Gohan like that had been such a brilliant idea.

* * *

Countless miles away from that battlefield, a battered and miserable looking Mr. Satan strolled aimlessly down a rocky roadway. Down beside his feet, Bee sauntered alongside him, looking just as tired as his friend. They had been walking for what felt like an eternity and hadn't seen another sign of life

What had happened to everyone?

And what had happened to his daughter for that matter? He had seen her last back in the infirmary when she'd made a sudden and very anomalous recovery after being badly pummeled by that muscle-bound scoundrel Spopovich. Was she with that weird boyfriend of hers-that Gohan fellow?

Mr. Satan shuddered as he remembered what had happened when Gohan and his even stranger friends had returned. Two of Gohan's friends or if they really were his friends had started attacking the people in the stands. HIS FANS! And then they'd done something weird to Juuhachi-gou to make her have that M on her head like those other two had. What was going on? Why did those people to do that? And why…why did all of this have to happen after he had gotten the old Majin Buu to promise not to kill anymore?

Mr. Satan paused when he heard noise behind him. Whirling, he briefly gasped when he saw Bee sprawled ungainly a few inches behind him on the ground, sweat dripping down his face and the dog breathed heavily.

"Bee-chan!" Hastily, the World Champion rushed over and gathered his pet into his arms. "Bee, I know you're tired and hungry boy, but we have to keep moving," he said soothingly, running his finger through Bee's pale fur, "Because if we don't, then we'll eventually die of exhaustion or be eaten alive by vultures or maybe even worse…" That worse being Majin Buu, because who knew where their former friend was lurking at.

After a while, Mr. Satan began to walk off along the pathway, toting Bee. And after walking for another length of time, luck had finally decided to be on their side when he spotted a city to east…

* * *

KRAAABOOOMMM!

An explosion followed the brilliant flash of light that had briefly encompassed the wasteland after Gohan had just assaulted Majin Buu with a fierce ki bolt. His younger brother and his friends shielded themselves as the backlash of Gohan's attack lashed out at them.

Soon the light had died out and everything had fallen silent. When it was safe again, the other Z-Senshi dropped their arms from their face and stared up ahead. Gohan stood in front of a long, deep trench that seemed to go on forever, the ground was greatly chewed up. Both of his hands were still stretched and smoke swirled around his thick fingers from where he had fired the gigantic blast.

"Piccolo-san, do you think that was enough to destroy Majin Buu?" Koji queried when he was able to speak again.

Piccolo gulped and remained silent for another second before he answered. "Well, that was a pretty impressive attack, but we shouldn't get our hopes up too soon. This is Majin Buu we're talking about here."

"Well, if Buu wasn't destroyed last time, my big brother will get him next time!" Goten said proudly, his face twisted in mask of confidence.

Standing a short distance away, Amara observed everything without comment.

"Then I guess we'll see if you're right, because here comes Buu again," Juuhachi-gou announced in her emblematic dry voice.

Up ahead, Gohan glowered as he, too, spotted Majin Buu racing back towards him. Why want he stay down?

As Majin Buu alighted himself in front of Gohan, the dark-haired teenager arched a brow as he noticed there was no trace of malice on Buu's face while he snickered at him. What was so funny?

"So it was you after all."

Gohan stared back at him in bewilderment. "What?"

Instead of answering verbally, Buu simply laughed. "Far, far, in a faraway place, I felt a strong power. And I won't stand for any power stronger than mine!"

"So that's it," Gohan realized. "You were testing me, just to make sure that I really was greater than you. Then I guess that's just too bad for you, Majin Buu."

On the sideline, the others listened to Buu's words with expressions of surprise.

"Y-you mean even during the height of that battle, he became conscious of Gohan's existence?" Piccolo asked, befuddled.

"I-in that case, what in the world was the meaning of that fight with Gotenji and Juumara?" Koji wondered. He exchanged confused looks with Goten.

"Apparently, Majin Buu is a lot craftier than we thought," Amara remarked, her expression unreadable.

Juuhachi-gou nodded in agreement. "It seems so. Under any capacity can we underestimate him again. We must expect him to do anything and everything from now on."

"Agreed."

"Fool!" Majin Buu roared in rage, his eyes flashing a malicious crimson. "I will not stand for you! Absolutely not, absolutely not! I will not stand for you! I'll kill you...RIGHT NOW!"

Gohan immediately zeroed in the last part of Buu's sentence. Was Majin Buu about to try something?

_*Maybe not_...* Gohan thought when Majin Buu suddenly powered-down. What was Buu up to? Gohan quickly got back into a fighting stance as peals of green electricity did an eerie little dance around his body, with veins bulging rapidly. Yet to Gohan's utter confusion, Buu was making no bid to attack.

"What's he waiting for?" Amara asked Gohan's unspoken question.

"I don't know, but I sure as hell don't like this picture!" Piccolo snarled, something about the way Majin Buu was standing there and those green lights, also the way he twitched made the Namekseijin's skin crawl.

Beside Piccolo, Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened in horror when realization sunk in.

"Gohan! He's going critical!" Juuhachi-gou screamed in alarm.

Piccolo, Amara, Goten, and Koji stared in alarm.

"Dammit!" Gohan swore. Wasting now time, he quickly flew over to the others.

And then, pink light burst violently through Buu's body-

KEEERRRRBBBOOOMMM!

Smoke, dust, and rock fragments filled the region where the battle for the Earth had just raged on only moments ago. If Gohan and Majin Buu hadn't destroyed everything during their violent brawl, then Buu's desperation attack surely exterminated everything else. Nothing could've survived the attack. Well, not unless you were quick enough to retreat higher into the air to avoid the explosion.

High up over the battle-scarred landscape, Gohan, Piccolo, Juuhachi-gou, Amara, Goten and Koji regarded the roiling smoke below.

"T-thanks, Gohan," Piccolo said gratefully, breaking the silence. "You really saved us."

"No problem."

"Thanks, Big Brother!" Goten said.

"I still can't believe he blew himself up," Koji said.

"Neither can I," Amara murmured, frowning.

Juuhachi-gou made no commentary, staring down in quiet contemplation.

Moments later, the five were standing on a cliff overlooking a once lively and peaceful countryside.

"Do you think Majin Buu is really dead?" Piccolo asked Gohan.

"No," Gohan answered succintly.

The others looked at him in varying levels of surprise.

"He blew himself up, didn't he?" Koji inquired. "He was trying to take you with him."

Gohan's eyes turned darked briefly. "That's not it. If he really wanted to catch me in that explosion, it would have to have been much bigger. There'd be nothing left of the Earth."

"So this is another one of his plans then!" Amara realized.

Gohan nodded. "Without a doubt. Even though he can hide his ki just like we can, I can still sense Buu."

"I don't like the sound of that," Piccolo said.

"Neither do I," Juuhachi-gou agreed. "What is that bastard plotting?"

"It's like he's hiding because he's waiting to attack at the right moment!" Goten said, faintly alarmed.

"If he is still alive, he's done!" Koji said confidently. "He couldn't even touch your brother back there. Gohan's probably almost as strong as Super Gotenji."

"No, he's stronger," Goten answered automatically with his usual guileless. "He's stronger than both Super Gotenji and Super Juumara."

"Well, maybe a little," Koji was forced to admit.

Meanwhile, within the chasm, underneath the pile of rocks, Majin Buu began to slowly reconstruct himself. Yes, that attack had taken a lot out of him, but it was worth it. And just like he predicted the fools rushed away from the scene thinking he was defeated. Meanwhile, Buu's subconscious mind laughed ferociously, yes they truly were fools! They didn't even know they'd just started spinning his scheme into movement.

"All right! Gohan did it!" Goku whooped, jumping to his feet, he leaped into the air in joy.

* * *

By the crystal ball both Eastern Kaioushin and Kibito sighed in relief. The universe was safe once again and Majin Buu was finally destroyed.

Up on the hill, Rou Kaioushin glanced up from his magazine and over at his younger counterpart and the others. Shaking his head in quiet condescension, what simple-minded fools the three were! Majin Buu was far from being destroyed. In fact it was just the beginning… the beginning of the end.

* * *

"It really is good to see you again Gohan," Piccolo said, as he placed a green clawed hand on Gohan's broad shouldered. Gohan smiled merrily as he looked over his shoulder towards his former mentor.

"It's good to see you too Piccolo. All of you," Gohan replied, looking over at the others standing in the background. After leaving the battleground the Z-Senshi had found an overhang for them to roost on for a while.

"Enough mush, boy!" Amara snapped, getting impatient with the sentimental scene, especially since there were some questions to be answered. "Now that Majin Buu is out of the way for the moment, care to tell us where you've been licking your wounds at all this time? And how come you were able to grow so much powerful? You weren't last time when you faced Majin Buu!"she demanded, although she knew that a Saiyajin's power increases after near-death experience, there was something else behind Gohan's newfound strength, she was very positive of it. He defeated Majin Buu without even going Super Saiyajin.

"I'd like to know, too," Piccolo said.

Gohan sighed and smiled, thinking he had kept them in the dark long enough. "Well it's like this…after getting hit by a big-time ki blast from the original Majin Buu, I was sure that was the end of me, but then Kaioushin-sama and Kibito-san had found me. Kibito used his healing powers to restore me. Afterwards, I was taken back to their world, the Kaioushin Realm, to prepare me to challenge Majin Buu again. And while I was training Father showed up-"

"Goku!" Piccolo interrupted, though he wasn't all that surprised. "But I thought your father went back to Other World?"

Gohan negligently copied one of his father's gestures by bringing a hand to the back of his head and laughing sheepishly. "It's really kind of hard to explain, really. After Dad had showed up, we accidentally broke the Z-Sword I was planning on using against Majin Buu and inside was another Kaioushin-sama, an ancestor of the one we know." Gohan informed, which surprised Piccolo that time. "Seeing that the sword couldn't be use, Elder Kaioushin-sama came up with the idea to awaken my hidden powers without me haven to get very angry. And that's why it took me so long to get back here, I'm really sorry I hadn't been here for you guys."

"It's all right Gohan, we're just glad you're back now," Goten told him.

"Yeah," Koji agreed.

"So, what do we do now?" Juuhachi-gou suddenly asked.

"Well, I'd say we go collect the Dragonballs, but that'll be a waste of time since Dende…" Piccolo trailed off, glancing off to the east.

Gohan gazed at Piccolo curiously; even though he hadn't finished his sentence he could tell that the Namekseijin was about to say something bad had happened to Dende. But he didn't look too worry for a good reason. "Actually, Piccolo-san…Dende's still alive."

"He is?" Piccolo blurted as he glanced back at Gohan, hope shimmering in his eyes.

Gohan nodded reassuringly. "Yeah, even when I first came back to Earth I could feel that Dende was alive. His signature may be faint, but I'm pretty sure I could find him."

Piccolo smiled. "Yes, now we can still use the Dragonballs. We can revive everybody and everything Majin Buu destroyed."

"Who has the Dragon Radar?" Gohan asked.

"Hoshi gave it to me," Piccolo answered.

"Then what are we standing here for, let's go!" Amara said commandingly.

With another nod Gohan rose up into the air, the others followed him close behind.

They had flown several miles before movement from below caught Juuhachi-gou's attention. She suddenly stopped, which caused the others to stop as well.

"Is there something wrong, Mama?" Koji asked.

"Humph!" Disdain decorated Juuhachi-gou's face as she quickly recognized the all-too-familiar person underneath him. "Of course, _he _of all people would still be alive."

As they wondered who the jinzouningen was talking about, she pointed earthward. They turned in one motion. Where Juuhachi-gou pointed, they could all make out a very, very familiar person walking through the desert below them, carrying a puppy.

"Eh! That's Mr. Satan!" Gohan said in surprise.

"Why does Mr. Satan have to be the only person to survive?" Koji asked sullenly. "He sure is a tough one, though."

"Let's go pick him up," Gohan decided.

"Why?" Amara asked. "A nuisance like him will just get in the way."

"I'll go get him," Juuhachi-gou surprisingly volunteered. Ignoring the questioning stares from her son and the others, she swooped down quickly and silently.

With no ki-sensing abilities and just plain simply tired, both Mr. Satan and Bee had been unaware of the Z-Senshi hovering over them. They were just trying to reach safe grounds, leaving the convenient store because it seemed unsteady to remain in. Mr. Satan was so exhausted that he didn't see the rock in front of him and promptly tripped and lost his balance. But before the two could hit the ground, they were up in the air and surprisingly didn't fall.

"Huh?" The World Champion thought he was going insane as he saw he and Bee were heading further away from the ground. What in the world?

Taking a glance back down, Mr. Satan's face slowly twisted into astonishment when he saw he was more than two hundred feet off the ground. And soon he became aware that arms were wrapped firmly around his waist. Gazing around, horror covered Mr. Satan's face when he saw the beautiful, smirking face of Juuhachi-gou.

"I-it's you!" he exclaimed. "J-Juhachi-gou!"

After getting over the shock, Mr. Satan soon noticed the other figures surrounding Juuhachi-gou. On his right: the green man, the woman who had attacked the arena and the boy who resembled Juuhachi-gou a little. And to the left was the little boy who was undoubtedly the son of that guy who fought Majin Buu, in front of him was that say boy who had flew off with his daughter.

"You're here too!"

Hearing him, Gohan glanced around and smiled friendly in spite of himself. "Mr. Satan-san! It's nice to see you."

"Uhh, umm, hi." Mr. Satan replied rather awkwardly.

"I hope you know champ, I'm not saving you for free," Juuhachi-gou informed him. "Twenty million zenni is my asking price."

"T-twenty million zenni!" Mr. Satan squawked in shock.

Gohan, Piccolo, and Goten sweatdropped, while Koji looked a bit shamefaced, and Amara just rolled her eyes.

"Why not, it's only fair?" Juuhachi-gou replied. "After all, you and I both knew I was going to beat you in that Battle Royale and take the original ten million grand prize. And I did just save you from possibly dying of starvation and dehydration. So how about it?"

"B-but that's..." Mr. Satan stammered. Then he shook his head stubbornly. "N-no! No, I won't do it!"

Above him, Juuhachi-gou scowled down at the man crossly. That was not the answer she wanted to hear.

"Fine!" Juuhachi-gou hissed and promptly released the World Champion and his dog.

Mr. Satan and Bee wailed as they descended out of the air at prompt velocity, Mr. Satan flapping awkwardly in the air with one arm because he was using the other to hold Bee. As Mr. Satan fearfully gazed down at the ground which they were quickly approaching he decided that his life meant more to him then his stupid old pride. So it seemed it had no choice to but to yield to Juuhachi-gou's demand.

"ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT, DAMMIT!" he bellowed with utter desperation. "I'LL PAY! TWENTY MILLION ZENNI IT IS!"

Mr. Satan and Bee was just about to make an uncomfortable landing on the earth, when a gush of air hit their backs and shortly Juuhachi-gou was carrying them back up into the air.

"Good choice, champ," Juuhachi-gou drawled."You know what, you're much smarter than I thought."

Mr. Satan started to cry, wishing Majin Buu had killed him after all.

"Hey! There's Dende down there!" Gohan stated when he suddenly glimpsed a familiar figure down below, waving at them. Staring earthward, the others spotted the young Kami standing on rock surface, all grins.

In a short matter of time, the group had reached the Namekseijin-deity's location and dropped down in front of him.

"Piccolo-san! Everyone! You're all here!" Dende beamed joyously, as he grasped Piccolo's hands.

"Dende, how were you able to survive?" Piccolo asked, while extremely glad that he was still alive. "I was certain that Majin Buu had turned you into food and ate you like he did the others."

Dende was crestfallen as he had to answer his mentor's question; releasing Piccolo's hands he turned his back on them.

"Actually it was Popo-san who saved me. See, before Majin Buu could hit either of us he managed to push me off the Tenka in time, telling me that the Dragonballs must remain active for you guys to use them."

"Well then, we owe Mr. Popo a whole lot of gratitude," Piccolo remarked, clapping a green clawed hand on the younger Namekseijin's shoulder. "And as soon as he can collect all of the Dragonballs we're going to wish Mr. Popo and everyone else back to life."

Behind the two green aliens, Mr. Satan eyed Dende strangely because he'd never seen him before, although he resembled that Ma Junior character a bit. Glancing around for answers his gaze soon landed on Koji.

"Say, who's that guy with the sickly complexion?" he whispered. "He looks kinda important."

Koji scowled in annoyance at the champion's incompetence. "Baka, that's Kami-sama! The Kami-sama of Earth! Don't you know anything?"

"The God of Earth?" Mr. Satan echoed thoughtfully then glanced back at Dende in amazement. "H-him?"

Amara's scowl shifted from Satan to Juuhachi-gou.

"You should have let that idiot fall!" she hissed.

"Wait a minute, where's my daughter?" Mr. Satan demanded when he'd gotten over his baffling discovery over who Dende was. "Is she around here somewhere?"

Gohan lowered his head despondently, he hated to be the bearer of news, but since he, besides Satan was close to Videl he thought he should be the one to deliver the bad news.

"Well, you see…" Gohan began uncomfortably.

"She's dead!" Mr. Satan exclaimed shortly in horror after Gohan had finished telling him the truth. "No not her, not my one and only baby girl!"

The World Champion frowned as he whirled blazing eyes on Gohan.

"And just where the hell were you when all of this was going on? You're supposed to be her boyfriend, right?" Mr. Satan demanded angrily, as he stepped in Gohan's face and grabbed a fistful of the front of his gi shirt, being a father he could care less how much powerful and more skillful Gohan was than him. "Why the hell didn't you protect her!"

Gohan appeared even glummer as he really couldn't blame Mr. Satan for being so crossed at him. He was mad at himself for not being there for Videl, his mother, and the rest of his friends.

"Look Mr. Satan... I'm really sorry, but I promise I'll wish Videl back with the others as soon as I can get the Dragonballs!"

Mr. Satan's angry face abruptly twisted in confusion. "Dragonballs? What are Dragonballs?"

"I think it would be less stressful if we just show him." Juuhachi-gou commented dryly. Everyone except for Mr. Satan seemed to get the hidden meaning in her words.

In the next instance, those with ki-sensing abilities froze, their eyes widening in surprise and a bit of dismay.

"Hey, what's wrong with you all?" Mr. Satan asked, more confused than ever at their strange expressions.

"I-It's Majin Buu!" Dende said in dismay. Piccolo, Amara, and Juuhachi-gou simultaneously swore under their breaths. Both Koji and Goten gulped and tried to put on brave faces, though they were both shivering like a leaf caught in a horrible hurricane. Gohan just scowled.

"Augh! What's going to take to put that bakayarou down!" Amara snarled, she was getting very annoyed now.

"Me," Gohan stated, his voice hard as he took a step forward. "Because this time I will finish Buu!"

Only a few miles away, the fully revitalized Majin Buu would have to disagree with Gohan if he were there. And if he were there, he would have said that 'if anyone would be finishing anyone it would be them, because with the plan he's come up with, there's no way that he could lose. Deciding he had kept them in suspense long enough he amplified his speed.

It wasn't a very long trip for demon when he spotted his enemies standing atop of a bunch of rocks, their look of anger and surprise was like silent music to his ears. With a devilish smirk, Majin Buu dropped out of the air and landed gracefully a few feet away from Gohan and his allies.

"About time you showed up again," Gohan said, clenching his fists at his side, a lop-side smile on his face. "Let's settle this once and for all."

Abruptly, Majin Buu snapped out his hand to forestall the half-Saiyajin. "Wait! Before we fight again I'd like to have another battle against those two warriors again-Gotenji and Juumara," Buu appealed, the furtive gleam that twinkled in his eyes did so invisibly.

The Senshi gaped at him questioningly before Gohan quickly retorted. "Request denied! Your battle is with me!"

Majin Buu chuckled, ah yes he'd already predicted Gohan would say something like this and prepared for it.

"Ha! I knew it; they were nothing more than talk to begin. Finding out that they're actually cowards isn't really surprising," he sneered, mutely cackling with wicked joy when he saw Amara, Juuhachi-gou, Koji, and Goten look disgruntled at his comment.

"Who are you calling a coward?" Koji retorted accordingly. "Last time I remembered, you would've been toast if our time hadn't run out!"

"Then why don't you show me that near win of yours wasn't a fluke after all!" Majin Buu countered, however, as he spoke his back rippled in three places. Suddenly, those three sectors of his skin slid off his back, more of his odd tissues and muscles refilling the missing sections. The three globs pooled onto the ground and began to slither stealthily toward the Z-Senshi.

Amara grinned horribly as she stepped in front of Koji. "Well, if you're in such a hurry to die, then we'd be more than happy to oblige you!" she told him, glancing sideways at Juuhachi-gou who looked right back at her and gave her a brief nod of understanding. Sure both of them weren't very fond of having to become one single being just to defeat Majin Buu, but if they could shut Majin Buu up for good they really didn't care how they did it.

"Ready Goten?" Koji smirked, glancing over his shoulder. Goten nodded, his face a mask of pure determination.

Gohan exhaled in resignation and stepped to the side, seeing as how he no longer had a choice but to.

Piccolo's eyes narrowed suspiciously when observed Majin Buu's grin widening as Amara, Juuhachi-gou, Koji, and Goten moved into position for the Fusion process.

*_Something about this just wasn't right_,* Piccolo thought. *_He seems to really want_ _them to become Juumara and Gotenji real badly. I don't like the feel of this.*_

Dende was thinking the exact same thing from his hiding spot behind some rocks. The young God glanced down when he heard a noise like rattling bones behind and beside him, a sweat drop rolling down the side of the Namekseijin's face as he realized it was just Mr. Satan trembling in fear and clutching Bee tightly against him.

Meanwhile, the boys were in the process of the doing the Fusion dance, while the women stood side-by-side, their bodies already glowing and starting to draw into one another.

"FUSION…HAAAA!"

All of the onlookers, except for Majin Buu shielded their faces as of ball of blue-white fury blinded them for several minutes. When everything cleared, Juumara and Gotenji stood where four people stood only seconds ago, the former a Super Saiyajin Two while the latter was a Super Saiyajin Three, but both ready for action. Majin Buu's cold, calculating eyes sparkled with sinister delight; the fools had fallen for his bait. The trap was sprung and now he only had to reel them in.

"Whoa! That's the first time I've ever seen the Fusion technique," Gohan said. "I'm very impressed."

"You have seen anything yet!" Gotenji promised arrogantly. He gave Majin Buu the victory sign. "Dum, dum, dum! It's the Grim Reaper of Justice, Super Gotenji Three!"

"All right, Majin Buu. You got your wish, here we are!" Juumara told him, her energies searing around her. "I want let you escape so easily this time!"

Majin Buu only grinned, which served to heightened Piccolo's suspicions of their being foul-play at work. In the meantime, the three globs had successfully slipped under the Senshi's defenses and were journeying closer and closer towards the primary targets Majin Buu had chosen for them.

But Majin Buu's tactic didn't go utterly unnoticed. Within Satan's clutches Bee started growling when he noticed the three globules slinking around.

Mr. Satan stared down at Bee quizzically as the dog started squirming wildly in his arms.

"Hey Bee-chan , what's the matter, boy?" he asked in concern.

Dende frowned mildly when he saw Bee wriggling desperately to escape his owner's grasp. What had gotten the puppy riled up? He wondered briefly before he suddenly saw what Bee had saw, and his face paled The three Buu globs that were sliding across the rocky ground towards Piccolo, Gotenji, and Gotenji.

"WATCH OUT!" Dende shouted at the last second.

Hearing the urgency in Dende's voice, all three of Juumara, Gotenji, and Piccolo turned around just in time to see in a pink wall of blob rise up in front of them. Now caught in Buu's essences, the three struggled with all their might to escape, but in the end it proved futile as the globs soon devoured them.

"NO!" Gohan screamed in dismay, feeling very helpless now.

Majin Buu's eyes glinted deadly pink lights as he flung his head back in let out a long bark of laughter, sending out a wordless order for the globs to return to him with his captives. The order was abruptly received as the gobbets rose into the air and swiftly made their way back to their master. The gobbets slammed into Majin Buu, covering his head/face and his upper body, molding as one whole skin while reconfiguring the horrible demon.

Gohan could only gape in openmouthed horror, seeing as how there was nothing he could really do until whatever was happening to Majin Buu had stopped. In front of him, Majin Buu's whole body glowed pink and violent winds whipped forward, lashing out at everything. Gohan, Dende, Mr. Satan quickly closed their eyes and shielded their faces with a cross arm block; Mr. Satan could only do it one hand because he was trying to protect Bee as well. When the wind died out they lowered their arms, they gazed forward and their mouths slacked opened at the sight in front of them.

Majin Buu guffawed manically as he showcased his new self. He was now dressed in a black vest- Gotenji's vest- and his forelock almost touched the earth now. After a few moments Majin Buu spoke, his voice now sounding rich and cultured.

"Feast your eyes on the mightiest Majin, Gohan-kun! This moment in history will never come again!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	54. Another Chance

**Disclaimer: I still don't make money off the DBZ show or its characters. Just my own created characters. **

**Chapter Fifty-Four: Another Chance**

* * *

Everyone continued to stare at Majin Buu with equally stunned looks. It wasn't all because of how different he looked or how much powerful he was now, but because of the way he'd just spoken. Apparently, his transformation had not only helped to improve his strength, but also his speech as he'd just spoken with a sophisticated timbre in his voice that was surprising to ears of anyone who just heard him. Though, at the same time, it was also infuriating to Gohan because the cultured voice Buu had spoken in had reminded him an awful lot like his mentor just then.

Gohan grimaced wrathfully at Buu, his body shaking from anger and self loathing. He had had the perfect opportunity to destroy him, and because he didn't, the Majin had took the first opening he could get and absorbed his brother, Koji, Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and Piccolo, turning himself into the even menacing creature standing in front of him. It was just like his battle with Cell all over again. Just like back then, he had allowed himself to become arrogant after turning into a Super Saiyajin Two for the first time, and because of that his father had suffered for it. This time, his baby brother had suffered for his arrogance, and as well as his mentor, Juuhachi-gou and her son, and Amara.

_*I'll get you for this Majin Buu!* _Gohan vowed silently with cold determination.

At the moment, however, Majin Buu wasn't really even paying Gohan or any of the other survivors any attention, as it seemed he had decided to check out his bettered self. Wonder and amazement crept into Buu's expression when he looked down at himself. That feeling of self-awe didn't stem from how different he looked- though he thought he looked a lot better than before, it was due to the magnificent power flowing through every fiber of him; his fingers were just itching to try out the stolen strength! This is what he'd been waiting for all along, and for his patience he had been richly rewarded. With the stolen strength of both Juumara and Gotenji, combined with Piccolo's stolen brilliant mind, he was truly unbeatable, and now no one would be able to stand up to him again. Unable to contain his joy over it all, Buu flung his head back and barked with triumphant laughter.

"H-hey, Kami-sama, what's happening?" Mr. Satan whipsered to Dende. "What did he just do to them?"

"M-Majin Buu is just absorbed Super Gotenji, Super Juumara, and Piccolo-san!" Dende explained.

"Huh!" Mr. Satan said, staring in confused astonishment. "That doesn't sound too good!"

"Trust me, it's not!"

* * *

In the Kaioushin Realm, the cackling Majin Buu was caught on Rou Kaioushin's crystal ball and was under the grim scrutiny of Goku, Eastern Kaioushin, and Kibito.

"And just when we thought things couldn't get worse," Kibito said in consternation.

"This not good at all," Kaioushin added, looking quite dismayed. "Majin Buu's power had jumped several leaps and bounds from what it was, after absorbing Juumara and Gotenji. I hope Gohan-san will be all right."

While Goku remained quiet, the expression on his face spoke louder than any words could right now.

Behind everyone over on the hill, though Rou Kaioushin was indulging in his comic book, he was still quite aware of what taking place all around him and also on the far side of the universe where Earth was._ *Majin Buu has become unbelieveably powerful, and unfortunately not even the power-up I gave Gohan will be enough to defeat him. Dammit, all that work shot down to hell! I still better be able to get my payment from that Bulma lady.*_

* * *

Meanwhile, back on Earth...

"Hey, Majin Buu!" Gohan shouted, unable to bear listening to the Majin's laughter any longer. "What's so funny? Did I miss something?"

Hearing the annoyed half-Saiyajin, Majin Buu stopped laughing and shifted his gaze over to the teenager with deliberate slowness. Gohan's body tensed involuntarily when he became entrapped in that evil stare; he hadn't been expecting there to be such sheer force behind his gaze, and after getting hit with it at full force, he knew playing around with this incarnation of Majin Buu would mean his death. Majin Buu noticed this, and chuckled maliciously. The young fool was scared! Even though Gohan was trying to hide it, he could still easily smell it on him.

"What's the matter Gohan? I don't see that confidence in your eyes I saw earlier," Buu taunted. "As a matter of fact, it looks as if it been replaced by fear."

Gohan bristled at the insult.

"Ridiculous!" he retorted curtly. "I could never be afraid of somebody who can only win a battle by stealing the powers of others!"

Majin Buu let out another bark of laughter. "Say what you will boy, but if you expect to survive in this world or any other, you must always be at the top of the food chain. And after absorbing your little brother and your friends, I AM at the top! And there's not a damn thing you can do about it!"

The half-Saiyajin's blood was beginning to boil now, though he still managed to sound civilized.

"Well, you better enjoy all that power you have as long as you can! Because make no mistake about it Majin Buu, I will avenge my taisan and the others!" Gohan guaranteed, re-clenching his fists.

Buu sneered. "With the help of your little brother and your friends, I'll crush you and those other two insects as well! Afterwards, I'll then destroy this pathetic world and take my leave to conquer the rest of the universe!"

"Not if you're dead!" Gohan roared, white inferno fizzing and blazing around him. He lifted off the ground into the air and descended back down in a high arc straight towards Majin Buu.

KRAK-POW!

The sound of fist against flesh echoed vociferously throughout the area. Gohan smirked as he floated in mid-air, his fist plunged into Majin Buu's left cheek and the demon's head twisted sharply to the side. On the sideline, Dende and Mr. Satan broke out into elated grins, while Bee let out a bark that was just as happy. But the half-Saiyajin let out a sharp hiss of disbelief and the bystanders froze when they noted that Buu's face was devoid of the pain Gohan been going for. The only thing Gohan saw on his face was disdainful amusement, and it angered him.

Gliding back a bit, Gohan let out a battle cry and rushed back in swinging, pulverizing Buu's face with brutal punches. Pausing, Gohan then searched Majin Buu's expression but growled under his breath in frustration when he saw Buu's visage was still impassive. Could Majin Buu even feel pain now? No, every being feel pains, including robots, even though they didn't really know when they do feel it. He just wasn't trying hard enough.

"Are you quite done?" Majin Buu questioned in a dry-bored timbre, his cold eyes flicking upward to stare into Gohan's face. The contemptible demon's lips quirked up into a callous smile as he caught the glimpse of fear in Gohan's eyes, though it was only a glimpse. Gohan's Saiyajin nature wouldn't allow him to show it fully, but Buu had still caught it anyway. "Well, I'll just take your silence as a yes! And now that you are done, please allow me show you how a punch is really suppose to feel."

CRUUNNCCHHH!

Like Majin Buu hadn't been able to notice when Gohan was about to go on the attack just a short while ago, the roles were reversed this time, when Majin Buu lashed out a speed faster than both lightning and thought, ramming his fist into the half-Saiyajin's gut. Gohan's eyes flew wide with shock and pain as the air was knocked harshly from his lungs; Mr. Satan, Dende, and Bee all cringed at the same time just from witnessing the excruciating sight. Holding his stomach, Gohan dropped down to one knee, gasping harshly as he tried to regain fresh breath.

Majin Buu stared down at Gohan in derision. Ah, yes, he was going enjoy paying Gohan back for how he'd humiliated him not so long ago.

"Say Gohan, how's that old saying go? Oh, yes, an eye for eye. Well, a kick for a KICK!" Majin Buu punctuated his sentence by kicking the half-Saiyajin sharply in the face, sending him sprawling backwards through the already tore up terrain.

"And yeah…a blast for a blast!" Behind those words, Majin Buu hurtled a ki bolt...

* * *

In the afterlife, Prince Vegeta stood at the edge of a lime-green lagoon, his arms folded over his thick torso in typical fashion as he glared down indignantly at the water, his body wound tight with anger. Being in Hell, one was bound to find things to be abnormal, and the lagoon was an example of that. Unlike the lagoons he'd seen and been in back when he was live on Earth, this one actually showed him or anyone else that matter whatever they desired. And what he desired to see was a certain hot-tempered blonde beauty and a certain blue-eyed child with red hair. The Prince had gotten his wish, but didn't like what he saw.

He'd watched powerlessly from the other side as his wife and his son had been consumed by that loathsome pink atrocity. He'd even gotten Amara, Kakarott's youngest whelp, and the Namekseijin as well! And now Gohan was left all alone with Majin Buu, being horribly pummeled.

Vegeta was barely aware that he was growling and his teeth gnashed in fury. Dammit! If it wasn't for him being trapped in this Dende-forsaken place then he wouldn't allow that disreputable cretin to use them like damn power boosters! If only he wasn't dead.

But he'd choose this. All for the sake of his loved ones he'd sacrificed himself in hopes of taking Majin Buu down with him. Yet in the end, his sacrifice had really been all for nothing.

The Saiyajin Prince flung his head back and howled angrily to the quiet world around him, blazing golden all over. His rage-filled mind going back to that little meeting he'd had with Enma Daiou earlier. The Lord of Judgment had told him that the pink bastard hadn't died along with him, but was still very much alive to terrorize his family and any other soul he desired.

Frigid anger gripped the regal warrior's heart and his thoughts turned dark as suddenly reflected on Kakarott. His handsome face twisting into a grimace of infuriation and hate; he still couldn't get over the latest blow of humiliation the low-class warrior had dealt to his already fractured pride. Deliberately hiding the fact from him that he could go passed the level beyond a Beyond Super Saiyajin! Vegeta had witness that accursed moment when his rival had become a Super Saiyajin Three during his melee with the Fat Majin Buu.

And what a complete idiot he'd been! Thinking he'd finally become Kakarott's equal when in reality he was still just second best compared to the child-like Saiyajin.

Damn you Kakarott! Why the hell did you ever have to be born! It was my right-my birthright to be the supreme warrior of the galaxy! Not a shadow to someone who he was born to look down upon as a mere insect! Why did the Fates always seemed to be against him! No-they weren't always against him. They'd been gracious enough to give him the unlikeliest family in the universe, which he found he actually missed very much and badly wanted to see them again.

He just had to escape this place to get back to them. Someway, somehow.

"Huh?" Vegeta grunted when he glanced downward, his mouth slightly opened as unpleasant scene playing out between Majin Buu and Gohan shifted into a new one. He grunted again when he quickly realized that the main stars of this newest illustration were in fact his mate and his sister.

What happened? Where were they? Are they still alive? His Super Saiyajin power faded away by his will and his hair and eyes turned back Saiyajin black. And once again he was reduced to be the observer as his black eyes followed the women down the dark passageway they were treading down.

But before Vegeta could really decipher what was going on, he suddenly vanished.

* * *

"Gohan! Oh Gohan! Where are you Little Gohan?"

Majin Buu chuckled condescendingly as he hovered atop of a large boulder some time later, his arms akimbo. The combination of smoke, dust, and ash that had been stirred up from the battle drifted behind and past him. An evil grin adorning his face, oh how he had enjoyed his domination over the young warrior. Those screams of fresh agony he vocalized were like sweet music to his ears for the past hour. And unable to withstand the punishment he'd been dealing out to Gohan the little cowardly Halfling had went back into concealment.

Majin Buu's grin then turned into a slight pout; during his little skirmish with Gohan something had profusely disturbed him. While they were fighting he had tried to execute some of Juumara's moves, but had found that he hadn't been able to. Why was that? He had performed an excellent Makanko Sappou (much better than the Namekseijin could ever do, in his mind) and he'd even did Gotenji's Super Ghost Kamikaze technique, yet he couldn't do any of that witch's techniques.

_*Maybe she hasn't digested all the way?*_ he started to speculate a bit.

"No matter." Majin Buu soon just tossed the matter aside with a shrug of his powerful shoulders, his lips curving into another evil smile. "Even without Juumara's strength, I'm still the strongest Majin ever to be created! That pathetic wimp couldn't hope to stop me now!" Buu deliberately said aloud to bring his foe out.

A razor-blade smile plastered the demon's face as the halfling had taken his bait. He had felt Gohan's power furiously increase, and even though he was facing the opposite direction, he could very clearly hear the half-Saiyajin rocketing through the air at breakneck speed towards him.

When Gohan had gotten towards Majin Buu he dematerialized than quickly rematerialized in front of the destroyer of planets, his right hand elongated out in front of the vile entity. "MASENKO HAAA!"

The blast had hit Buu fully in the face, smoke and dust enshrouding his head area. Gohan hadn't stopped there; he assaulted the momentarily stunned Majin Buu with a rapid barrage of ki blasts. When Majin Buu was completely encompassed with smoke from head to toe, Gohan had paused to take a breather. And that proved to be a very bad mistake.

Gohan's eyes widened in shock when something darted out of the smoke and caught him around his neck. As the haze diminished it was revealed that what had Gohan by the neck was actually Majin Buu's forelock, the pure malice incarnate grinned ghoulishly as he peered at the captured warrior. Sadistic delight gleamed in those cruel eyes, as he tightened his grip around Gohan, enjoying how the half-Saiyajin gasped desperately for breath.

"Nice try, Gohan, but it wasn't good ENOUGH!" And on that note, Majin Buu began lashing out at Gohan's abdomen with harsh punches. And then, with a swing of his neck he smashed Gohan face-first into the terrain, enjoying the scream of bright agony that erupted from Gohan's lips.

As Gohan lie face-first in the earth, he distantly wondered if his father had ever hurt as much as he did during any of his battles. His body ached terribly all over; his gi suit was singed immensely, blood trickled down the corner of his mouth, and lacerations and bruises covered his body. But as much as he was hurting he knew he had to get back up and stop Majin Buu, because if he were to die then no one would be able to. He just had to get back up.

A few minutes later the half-Saiyajin had managed to muster up enough strength to push himself up on his hands and knees, however that was as far as he'd been able to get. Once again Gohan was hauled up into the air by Majin Buu's long forelock as it was enfolded securely around his neck. He gasped for breath and kicked wildly at the air as he was retracted back in towards Majin Buu, stopping when Buu had him hovering a mere hairsbreadth in front of him.

"Tell me something, Gohan, how does it feel? The pain…?" Majin Buu chuckled cruelly when Gohan's response came in the form of a choked sob as he applied pressure around the half-Saiyajin's neck. "Well, don't fret my friend, in moment you won't be around to feel anything!" Buu told him, extending out his right hand, he blistered Gohan's back with a volley of small ki blasts; they weren't strong enough to kill him, just intensify the pain he felt already.

Over behind the rocks, all three of Dende, Mr. Satan, and Bee cringed in unison, cowering lower in the rocks as they heard Gohan's agonizing cries.

If only Dende could just get to Gohan, he would be able to heal him. But he dared not risked that chance, knowing Majin Buu would either destroy him on his sheer wicked principle or because he now knows of the Namekseijin guardian's healing abilities thanks to absorbing Piccolo and the Fusion warriors.

With a growling laugh, Majin Buu swung his head, flinging Gohan's battered body high into the air. Rocketing up into the air after him, the pink devil planted both his feet harshly in his back and sent him descending earthward, watching in malicious contentment as Gohan's body cracked a crater in the terrain. The boy was truly his for the pickings now!

"NOW, SON GOHAN, I SHALL END YOU AND THIS BORING WORLD FOR GOOD!" Majin Buu bellowed, thrusting both his hands into the air, he began accumulating power.

Below him prone on the ground, Gohan lay motionless, though still alive. Barely. He didn't have the strength to move again.

In Majin Buu's joined palms sat an immense energy orb, humming unpromisingly and turning half the region a dreadful aquamarine. And over behind the rocks Dende, the World Champion and his pet stared up at the ki ball in despair and horror, knowing that their death was imminent.

"No! If that things hit then we're done for!" Dende gasped, he truly had failed. They'd all failed to protect Earth this time and they would now pay a horrible price for their failure.

Adjacent to him, Mr. Satan looked puzzled. When all of this mess started, he hadn't really believed all of this superpowers and the flying nonsense, thinking it was all just a bunch of cheap movie affects. Just like back at the Cell games. But with all that has been happening, he wasn't sure an more of what was real and what wasn't. Still when the guardian of Earth says that the planet is about to be destroyed that was more than enough to convince him.

"Hey, Majin Buu!" he bellowed and stood, sudden determination gripping him. "I won't let you destroy this planet! You'll have to kill me first before you can!"

Below and beside him Dende stared up at the human like he'd gone really crazy.

"Satan-san...maybe this is not such a good idea," he cautioned in a nervous tone.

Back up in the air, Majin Buu had heard the World Champion, and he frowned. He had thought the annoying human had perished with those other humans back when he'd attacked the human simultaneously with his Human Extinction maneuver. No matter, he wouldn't escape him this time. Nothing would. This attack would finish them all and including this planet.

"Majin Buu! For your own good, I'll stop you!" Mr. Satan vowed, Bee instinctively leaped out of his arms, while the champion reached inside his shirt to pull out an ordinary pistol. "Drop that glowing ball this instant or you'll regret it!"

Still genuflecting behind the rocks, Dende looked at last remaining human in concern as he trained his firearm onto Majin Buu. Sure, his unexplained bravery was very admirable, but foolish as well. He wanted to try and explain to Mr. Satan that a simple gun wouldn't be enough to take down the mighty demon, nevertheless he knew he would only be wasting his breath and trying to elucidate for him would be like trying to plead Furiiza for mercy.

Majin Buu unsurprisingly didn't give into the man's threat, but he did continue to scowl down at him.

"F-Forgive me, Majin Buu!" Mr. Satan said fatalistically. Regret imperceptibly flashed across his face for what he was about to do.

Above, Majin Buu hovered stationary, his hand poised to hurl the attack that would decimate this world and any survivors along with it. However, he couldn't seem to bring himself to fire it, especially while Satan and Bee was down there. No matter how much he really wanted to, just so he could make that brainless fool shut up! The demon's lips curled angrily. Why did his Good self have to form a friendship with that irritating human and that vermin furball? And because of that foolish attachment, he couldn't bring himself to kill neither.

Growling determinedly, Buu hardheartedly pushed the weak sentimentality down and cold resolve returned tenfold. No, he would not let his old feelings stop him! He would destroy Mr. Satan and the dog!

As Majin Buu was getting ready to throw his attack, Mr. Satan started snapping off at him with bullets, which were aimed at his ki ball. And to Buu's and Dende's total disbelief, the World Champion had actually managed to diffuse his ki ball, sunlight abruptly returning to the area.

Majin Buu let out a brief gasp of utter surprise as he glared down at the man. No, this couldn't be right! How could a mere gun scatter his attack like that?

Below, Mr. Satan stared down at his gun, speechless, before what he'd just did sunk into his brain. Or rather what he thought he had done. A few rocks behind the World Champion, his dog and Dende, a distinguishable figure let out a breath of relief, very glad that he'd made it in time to stop Buu. Even if it was for a moment.

* * *

"Gohan, no..." Goku muttered under his breath in distress as he had to endure watching his son's beating at the hands of Majin Buu. First his youngest boy gets sucked up into Buu by that Buu goop along with Vegeta's family and Piccolo, now it appeared Gohan was only a few steps away from death. He didn't think he could watch any more.

"This is very bad indeed for Gohan-san," Eastern Kaioushin remarked softly, "With the stolen powers of Juumara and Gotenji, he's being beaten so one-sidedly!"

"That's why I need to go back!" Goku decided as he stood his expression more serious than it usually gets and his eyes remained glued onto the crystal ball.

"But it's impossible for you to return, right?" Kibito interjected, staring up at him quizzically.

"Yeah, if you were to return now you'd be nothing more than a mere powerless ghost," Eastern Kaioushin stated.

The young Saiyajin slapped his forehead and growled in exasperation. Being on Kaioushin's planet he'd almost forgotten that he was still dead. What was he going to do now? He just had to save his son.

"They are correct about that, which is why…" Everyone turned as one when they heard Rou Kaioushin's voice behind them, letting his sentence hang suspensfully in the air. The older deity's interest in his magazine had seemed to have died out and his focus was once again on Majin Buu matter as he got up from his seat atop of the hill and paced over towards the others. "Which is why I've made a hard decision. For the better good of the universe...I'm going to hand over my life force to Goku so he can fight Buu."

Goku, East Kaioushin, and Kibito could only stare, wide-eyed and speechless.

"Honorable Forefather! Do you know what you're saying?" Kaioushin asked in shock.

"You're a Grand Kaioushin-sama! You can't give up your life for a human!" Kibito added.

"I've made up my mind," Rou Kaioushin replied unwaveringly. "This must be done. If Goku isn't sent back to Earth to help out Gohan, then all really will be lost. After Majin Buu eventually destroys that world, I'm pretty sure he'll come to our world next."

Both East Kaioushin and Kibito were lost for words, as this was just unheard of.

"Then...I'll do it!" Eastern Kaioushin abruptly blurted. "I wasn't able to stop the revival of Majin Buu, nor could I free you from your seal. This is the least I can do!"

"B-but Kaioushin-sama!" Kibito protested.

"No, you're still young," the older Kaioushin responded, shaking his head. "But me, I still have thousands of years left."

"Old-timer, I don't know what to say..." Goku said, utterly touched.

Rou Kaioushin smiled at the Saiyajin. Then, in a blink of an eye, Rou Kaioushin had separated from his physical body and collapsed onto the ground. He didn't move again.

Goku's big, round eyes widened as he felt tingly all over, glancing upward, he witnessed as his halo vanished from above his head. It had been done, one's life was taken away to give life back to another one. He took a deep breath, enjoying the familiar feel of his lungs working. He had thought he would never get to experience that feeling ever again.

As happy as he was to be back amongst the living again, sorrow flashed across the young man's face as he stared down at the motionless body of Rou Kaioushin. Abreast to him, both Kibito and Kaioushin's heads were bowed as they paid their silent respects.

"I promise, I won't let this new life you've given me go in vain," Goku vowed, lowering his head as well.

In the next instant, a halo-wearing Rou Kaioushin sat up and snapped, "Then go, already! Stop standing there like an idiot! Do you want my death to be meaningless?"

Goku, Kaioushin, and Kibito stared at deity in equal stupefaction.

"Uh..." Goku said. That carefree expression of Goku's quickly bled away and was refilled with seriousness. "Wish me look everyone." He said, his voice dangerous, yet calm.

"Wait a minute, Goku!" Rou Kaioushin called, just as Goku had been about to teleport away with the Shuken Idou.

"Yeah?"

"What is your plan for Majin Buu?" Rou Kaioushin asked. "Because at his current power level, not even Super Saiyajin Three is enough for you to win on your own."

Goku wracked his brain for a quick strategy. Then just as immediately, an idea hit him.

"Hey, I know! I'll use Fusion!" he said.

"Hmph! Yes, but if you're talking about the type of Fusion those little runts or those women did, then forget it," Rou Kaioushin replied. "Do you honestly think Buu would just stand there and allow you to do your little dance?"

"I guess you're right," Goku admitted. "Then what am I going to then? Time's running out!"

Rou Kaioushin had opened mouth to speak when all of a sudden a wind came out of nowhere. All of their hairs nodded wildly in the slipstream. Glancing up everyone could make out someone or something spinning rapidly in mid-air above them, the cause of the hurricane force wind no doubt.

Still gyrating the shape alighted itself in front of the four, Goku, Kaioushin, and Kibito quickly drawing back in fighting stances just in case this was trouble. Soon the gyration began to get slower and slower until the four could make who or what it was that had come to East Kaioushin's world. Almost absently drawing out of their stances when they saw that it was a person-a very recognizable person.

"Kosumo!"

* * *

Enma Daio sighed, like one who had just made an unfavorable decision that had to be made even in spite of personal feelings. He then looked down at the man standing in front of his desk.

"While this goes my better judgment, I can no longer hold out hope that someone in the living realm will handle this Majin Buu problem. I guess it was a good thing I kept your spirit the way I did after all. I even gave you a body. We need your help...Vegeta. Please."

A half-disdainful, half-amused expression slid across Vegeta's face.

"So, it's gotten so bad that the Lord of Judgment needs the help of a miscreant such as me," he said, chuckling. "But we're up against Majin Buu, so your hopes probably aren't justified."

The enormous orge nodded. "Yes, and now there's only the matter of getting your paperwork signed to release you. Baba?" The Lord of Judgment decreed, reaching underneath his desk he pulled out a large stack of paperwork then turned towards the little green fortuneteller as she hovered beside Vegeta, roosting on her crystal ball as usual.

Urani Baba let out a sigh of irritation. Oh, how she hated to have to go through this entire stack of papers. She really felt the giant orge's pain as she could understand would he go through day in and day out. But oh well, for the better good she guessed.

As the fortune-teller dealt with the paperwork, Prince Vegeta barely noticed the others in the room as he continued relishing in the fact that his chance for vengeance would come very soon. His lips curling into grimace that only a blind fool would mistake for a grin, his thoughts were very evil and centered on all of the unpleasant things he would do to Majin Buu. And when he got his hands on Majin Buu he wouldn't just make him pay for making him foolish enough to believe that he could kill the pink warrior, he would also get him for messing with his family. And one thing you just didn't do was mess with a man's family. Especially when that man happens to be a Saiyajin Prince.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	55. The Potara Earrings

**Disclaimer: I still don't make money off the DBZ show or its characters. Just my own created characters. **

**Chapter Fifty-Five: The Potara Earrings**

* * *

Everybody in the Kaioushin Realm stared at the new arrival in equal surprise. Although, Rou Kaioushin was staring at her with something other than surprise in his expression.

"Forgive me for my intrusion," Kosumo apologized, bowing.

"There's no need," Eastern Kaioushin told her. "The Guardian of Cosmos is always welcome here."

"But why are you here, Kosumo-sama?" Kibito inquired, though not unkindly.

"I saw things becoming so hectic in Lower Realm on Earth, that I just had to come here," Kosumo replied, looking concerned.

"Okay, okay! Enough of that, time to get back to the subject at hand!" Rou Kaioushin interjected, sounding slightly irritable. He didn't care if Kosumo was hot, he still didn't like to be interrupted when he was trying to make a point. "Anyway, Goku, like I was about to say: Fusion is the answer to stopping Majin Buu, but not the type you use. You'll need the Potara Earrings; they're your greatest chance."

"The Potara Earrings?" Goku, Eastern Kaioushin, and Kibito asked at the same time, as they wondered what the ancient deity was speaking of.

"What does a Potara Earring look like, honerable forefather?" Kaioushin asked inquisitively.

"What! You mean to tell me that you, a Kaioushin, doesn't know what a Potara Earring is?" Rou Kaioushin snapped. He then shook his head in disapproval. "Honestly, I have so much to teach you."

"What did I do wrong this time?" Kaioushin asked, looking nonplussed.

With a huff, Rou Kaioushin answered, "You see those little earrings you wear in your ear, which looks exactly like mine? Those are known as Potara Earrings."

"Ohhhh!" Young Kaioushin said in understanding, though he was secretly shocked to find out that all this time he'd been wearing weapons that contain the power of Fusion. All this time he'd thought they were simple jewellery that completed his image as supreme deity of the universe.

"Wait, so you mean the earrings you and Kaioushin-sama are wearing can help perform Fusion?" Goku asked the elder god, sounding a bit skeptical. "I've got to see this in action."

"So, you want a demonstration, do you?" Rou Kaioushin asked, his lips curling into a secret smile. His gaze then shifted over to his descendant and Kibito. "Hey you, young pup, give Kibito one of your earrings so Goku here can see my type of Fusion in action."

Confused by all of this, the younger Kaioushin glanced sidelong over at Kibito, asking with his eyes if he really comfortable with doing this. Kibito caught his expression and nodded firmly at him, telling him he was willing to go through anything for him. Seeing that reassuring look on Kibito's face gave Kaioushin his answer, he reached up to remove the earring from his left ear, and handed it over to his aide. Both Goku and Kosumo observed it all with growing interest.

"Okay. Now Kibito, you put your Earring in your right ear," Rou Kaioushin instructed.

"Like this?" Kibito asked while placing his earring. Rou Kaioushin nodded, though that furtive simper still hadn't left his face yet.

"Uh. So, honorable forefather, what happens..." the rest of Eastern Kaioushin's words dissolved in a gasp, and his eyes flew wide simultaneously as Kibito's did also. Both their persons glowed green as they were lifted up into the air by an unseen and irresistible force, that then thrust them into one another. Goku, Rou Kaioushin, and Kosumo shielded their eyes as the white fury of power was too bright to stare into. When the radiance had disappeared the trio looked up to see a new, single entity standing where Kaioushin and Kibito had just been standing. While Goku and Kosumo stared at the person in surprise, Rou Kaioushin looked unaccountably smug.

The merger of Kaioushin and Kibito had been a complete success. The resultant figure born from it stood at Kibito's height, had his hair, and was also dressed in a mixture of Kaioushin's and Kibito's clothes, however, he had the face of Kaioushin.

"Oh, wow! This is amazing!" The Kaioushin-Kibito combination marvelled as he stared down at himself, taking his appearance. His charcoal eyes shimmering as he felt the tremendous power flowing through his veins now. He now felt confident enough to face Majin Buu one-on-one even.

"See, I told the Earrings do Fusion!" Rou Kaioushin told Goku smugly. "And you'll also find that their effect is even greater than Fusion."

"So, Kaioushin-sama, what do you call yourself now?" Kosumo inquired.

The new Fusion considered the question. "Kibitoshin...That's it, Kibitoshin! But you can still call me Kaioushin if you want."

"Wow, Kibitoshin's pretty strong!" Goku decreed enthusiastically. "And hey, if Gohan and I were to use the Potara Earrings to fuse together, he I could be a pretty powerful warrior as one being!"

"Hey, Goku, heads up!" Rou Kaioushin as he was removing his own Potara Earrings. He then tossed them to Goku, who caught them neatly in one hand.

Goku hooked one of the earrings into his left ear. As he glanced down at the earring hanging from his ear, Goku knew he looked positively funny right now, but at the moment getting back to Earth and saving his son and the planet was more important than how looked. Then, something occurred to the Saiyajin.

"Hey, Grand Kaioushin-sama? I was wondering something: should Gohan and I transform into a Super Saiyajin before we do Fusion, so we can be even more powerful?"

"No," Rou Kaioushin answered, shaking his head fiercely. "If you were to do that, then it could prove to have damaging results for the Fusion form you and your son will take. It's a well-known fact you Saiyajin can't stay powered-up for too long without getting tired. Just do the Fusion in your normal state, then once you've combined then you can turn Super Saiyajin. Though, I highly doubt you'll need to do so."

Goku nodded comprehendingly.

"Goku-san, I want to go with you!" Kibitoshin said suddenly, his face scrunched in determination. "I think I would be a lot more help to you in battle now!"

"Don't get carried away!" Rou Kaioushin scolded him. "Yes, you're stronger now, but you still wouldn't be much help against Majin Buu. Remember, you weren't anything special to begin with."

The blended god winced at the implied rebuke, looking discontent for a moment. But he finally nodded resignedly.

"Well, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now," Goku said, his face once more earnest as he brought the first two fingers of his right head to his forehead. "Shuk-"

"WAIT!" Rou Kaioushin called urgently.

"Huh?" Goku turned quizzical black eyes onto the old deity. "Rou Kaioushin? What's the matter?" He demanded impatiently, wanting to leave and go save his son before it was too late.

"Listen up, Goku, there's something I forgot to tell you about those earrings there," Rou Kaioushin said seriously. "You see once you use the earrings then you and the person who you fuse with are…permanently fused forever."

"WHAT!" Both Goku and Kibitoshin screamed at the same time.

"Honorable forefather! Why didn't you tell me and Kibito this earlier?" the Fusion demanded, his brows snapping down as he glowered at the aged god.

"Well, you didn't ask me," Rou Kaioushin pointed out, missing the furious expression on Kibitoshin's face. "Besides it won't be as bad as you claim it to be. You see, I too am born from a Fusion with the Potara Earrings."

Rou Kaioushin's admission made Kibitoshin angry look shift into one of curiosity. "Really?"

Kosumo continued to watch on nearby without remark, though looked interest in what Kaioushin's forefather was about to say.

Rou Kaioushin nodded. "Yes, it had happened some centuries ago, really. It had been a peaceful day here in the Kaioushin Realm, and I was still just a young man back then. I was drowned into the depths of this fantastic novel I'd been reading when this greedy little ugly witch snuck up on me and snatched one of the Earrings out of my ear. I tried to warn her of what would happen, but she was too blinded by her foolish desire to look beautiful. So, she placed the earring on and thus I was born and that's why I appear so old...and unattractive."

"Oohhh!" Kibitoshin nodded understandingly.

"Permanent..." Goku murmured under his breath as he stared seriously down at the other Earring. If he did this Fusion with Gohan, then his son's life would practically be over; his son wouldn't even have a life any more. He wouldn't be able to find him a nice girl to settle down with (which he was positive would be Videl), or have any children and be able to grow old.

But what choice did he really have? He was sure Gohan would understand cause his son knew what was at stake...

"Goku-san! You must hurry and leave now!" Kosumo suddenly shrieked, panic and apprehension audible in her usual sweet tone as she stared at the nearly forgotten crystal ball. "Your son and rest of the survivors of Earth are in serious danger!"

Goku's expression grew hard as he, along with Kibitoshin and Rou Kaioushin hastily glanced back over at the crystal ball. Projected on the orb was a cackling Majin Buu, who was preparing to launch a very devastating ki attack onto the almost defenseless planet. That settled it for the revived Saiyajin. He would use the Potara Earrings with Gohan, but would just have to settle with not telling him of the small consequences for peforming this type of Fusion.

"Shuken Idou!" he yelled in the next moment, and that time he left without interruption.

"I hope he succeeds..." Kosumo murmured.

"Don't worry, he's Son Goku, after all," Kibitoshin said assuredly. "Something will work out, I just know."

Beside Kosumo, Rou Kaioushin glanced discreetly at the Guardian of Cosmos, thanking this was his opportunity to get know the woman better.

"So, Kosumo- that's your name? Tell me about yourself..."

* * *

A few minutes earlier, up in the air, Majin Buu's temper piqued as he glared indignantly down at the Earth. He was still raging over having his attack negated by a simple human, and that it was the same human his Good side had befriended. But it was just implausible! How could that weakling do that with only a stupid gun! It just defied all of the Majin's logic, and just look at the cretin! Right now, he was down there gloating prematurely over his little victory to the others.

_*Fool! Who ever did that is only prolonging the inevitable!*_ Majin Buu thought coldly. He grinned wickedly. *_Let's seem them try to stop the next one! *_

Thrusting his right hand up, Majin Buu started gathering power again. Unfortunately, he was interrupted yet again from destroying his enemies and the planet along with it. Just as his ki was reaching halfway to semi-size, a strong blast of energy came out of nowhere and collided into his energy blast, and the two cancelled each other out.

Buu gasped briefly then snarled angrily. He had just gotten his proof that it hadn't been that feeble Mr. Satan who'd contradicted his last attack, which really set his dark heart at ease. Still, where did it come from? It couldn't be from Gohan, he's still motionless on the ground.

Down below, Mr. Satan and Bee had been so engrossed into their short celebration, that if it hadn't been for their mysterious savior they along with Dende and the fallen Gohan would surely be dead by now.

"U-um, where did that come from?" The World Champion asked Bee, mystified as they glanced up back into the sky, Dende as well.

WHOOSH!

All eyes that weren't close immediately flicked upward when something fast flew overhead them, the slipstream caused the Champion's bushy hair to sway. Bringing their eyes back down to earth the three gazed up ahead and before them hovered a hairless figure; although they couldn't really see his face Dende and Mr. Satan could easily tell that the man was a mountain of muscles underneath those clothes.

Dende gasped when recognition had abruptly hit him. He knew this person! "Tienshinhan-san!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Tienshinhan spun around and flash a friendly grin at Dende. "It's good to see you again, Dende. How are you pulling through?"

"Fine, all things considering," Dende responded.

"Well, don't worry because the cavalry is here now," the three-eyed drawled reassuringly, his face becoming hard as he immediately gazed back over at Buu.

"Oi wait a second, I remember you now!" Mr. Satan blabbed when recognition of who it was floating in front of him slammed into place. "You were one of those characters that were at the Cell Games seven years ago!"

However, Tienshinhan had ignored him the whole time as his attention was full directed on Majin Buu. All three of his eyes narrowed in hard resolve as he glared up at Majin Buu who'd finally seemed to notice he was there as well and was looking back down at him.

Behind the boulders, Dende smiled to himself when he saw Buu's focus seemed glued onto Tienshinhan and now would be the perfect opportunity to go heal Gohan. Taking a deep breath, Dende burst from out of the concealment and dashed swiftly over towards his fallen friend, all the while he held his breath in. When he successfully made it the young Namekseijin let out a large sigh of relief.

"Gohan? Gohan? Listen its Dende, can you hear me?"

After a few seconds two black eyes managed to slide opened for the deity. "De…nde?" Gohan rasped weakly.

"Shhh, it's all right. I'm going to heal you now, Gohan-san" Dende told him soothingly. Closing his eyes in concentration, Dende spread his hands out over the beaten and battered fighter. A corona of golden light hovered above Son Gohan, its warm energies soothingly striking him, re-sowing the cut on his lip and all the rest of the lacerations on his body made from the battle, also making those nasty bruises vanish so that if you ignored his clothes it would seem that Gohan hadn't been in combat. Gohan's eyes flew wide when he felt an incredible burst of energy flood through them. Dende opened his eyes and backpedaled a bit to give the half-Saiyajin some room as he abruptly sat up, missing the aghast and angry expression on Majin Buu's face.

Gohan stared down at his hands; he had been so close to death and now was very much alive. Nothing new, he thought.

Glancing around he smiled gratefully at Dende. "Thanks a ton, Dende-san!"

Dende nodded and then modestly said, "Glad to be of some help."

"Gwah! This just can't be happening!" Majin Buu raged, clenching his black-lacquered fingernailed hands as he witness Gohan clamber back up to his feet. Pesky half-breed! And damn that Dende! Buu should have killed him as soon as he spotted him making a beeline towards Gohan, but he had been too wrapped up having a stare-off with Tienshinhan that he had forgotten all about the Namekseijin's healing abilities.

Seeing that Majin Buu had ended their stare off contest Tienshinhan descend back onto the terrain beside Gohan and Dende. Gohan's face was quickly lit in surprise when he saw the distinguishable face.

"Tienshinhan-san!" Gohan exclaimed elatedly.

Tienshinhan smiled down at his old friend's son. "So that was you, Gohan. You've certainly gotten tougher. I didn't recognize you at all."

"You're all starting to piss me off!" Majin Buu growled. He then raised his hand, crafting a even larger massive energy ball that was created for the utter destruction of Earth, once again turning the whole area dark pink. He grinned. "Yes, with this I will take out both this world and all you small fries with it!

An apprehensive Dende quickly backpedaled away from Gohan and Tienshinhan, who both gawped in dismay.

"Now try and avoid this, if you can!" Majin Buu taunted, getting poised to hurtle the energy ball.

Gohan and Tienshinhan braced themselves for impact. Meanwhile, Dende hid behind the rocks where Mr. Satan and Bee were behind, with the former still shooting his .45 repeatedly at the Majin, apologizing to his old friend at the same time.

Momentarily, a ravening energy disc came out nowhere propelling at Majin Buu, cutting right through him. Buu let out a short cry of surprise rather than pain when he felt something sharp slice through his body, detaching the lower part of his body, and as well as the lower half of the demon's head tentacle at the same time. The lower body landed directly behind Tienshinhan, causing him to jump a bit from surprise, as he had been briefly distracted by the sight of Buu's attacker. Turning himself over to see who the culprit of that surprise attack was, Majin Buu glared irately at the dark-haired man he found floating in the sky, who smirked smugly back at him.

"F-Father...?" Gohan called out in surprise. "What are you doing in the lower realm?"

Realizing that everything had come to a stop, Mr. Satan looked back up to see what had happened to Majin Buu. He was stunned when he found his old friend only had half a body now.

"Buu's body is completely torn apart..." he said consternatingly, feeling ashamed. "T-they were my bullets. Forgive me! I had no choice!"

As he started to sob from the shameful crime he thought he had committed, in front of him, Bee shook his head.

Back in the sky, Majin Buu grinned at Goku. "I'm sure I've met you before. That's it. You're the guy who did those odd transformations." He smirked. "Why are you here now? Have you come planning to help? Absurd. Don't you understand that fundamentally, I am on a different dimension now than I was then?"

In response, Goku's trademark grin appeared on his face.

"Act all big now, while you still can!" Goku told him, pointing at him. "I'm using a little item here that gives an exceptional power-up!"

"What?" Buu asked.

Below, Gohan and Tienshinhan stared at Goku in surprise, wondering what he meant.

Buu laughed. "Of all the things you might have said...!" The demon turned, his back to the Saiyajin. While he did so, he sent a quiet message to his severed lower half on the ground below.

On command, it kipped up back to a standing base with unexpected speed. Noticing it, Tienshinhan quickly spun around, but he wasn't fast enough as Buu's lower body sent flying across the terrain with a single, wicked kick. Tienshinhan didn't move.

"Tienshinhan!" Goku exclaimed powerlessly, glancing down he saw his friend was moving. Gritting his teeth he swung blazing eyes back onto the tittering Majin Buu. "You didn't have to do that! He was no threat to you!" The tall warrior seethed with anger.

Majin Buu laughed dementedly as his lower body scurried towards him, attaching itself to his upper body. In a flicker-flash, Buu was a whole being again. He brought his arms akimbo as he glared menacingly down at father and son with those cold, gleaming, red eyes. He sneered at Goku.

"That guy just now seemed to be another master of this world," he said. "But with one kick, that's how he ends up. An exceptional power-up item, you say? What nonsense! You're exaggerating! No matter how hard you try or whatever plan of attack you come up with you'll never be able to damage me!"

Goku continued to seethe for a moment. Then he smirked.

"You sure hurried to put your body back together, considering that, didn't you?" he pointed out. "Probably because you're worried something's going to happen."

Majin Buu laughed. "Small fry! You sure seem to want to get killed! Very well!"

Frowning, Goku thought it was as good of a time as any to use the Potara Earrings. "Yo Gohan! Catch!" he hollered and tossed the earring.

"Huh?" Gohan grunted lightly when something came hurtling at him. He had lifted his hands out to catch whatever it was, however as soon as it fell into his hands, he fumbled it and it went flying passed him and landed in through a small crack in a mountain of boulders.

Goku's face fell as he witnessed his son's blunder. If Gohan lost the earring then they were in much danger…

"Gohan! Hurry and find it!" Goku screamed down pressingly.

"Right!" Gohan yelled back as he went about searching for the earring.

"Put it on your right ear as soon as you find it!" Goku instructed. "You'll combine with me, and we'll defeat Buu!"

"What! Combine with him?" Majin Buu asked. Comprehension quickly dawned on the Majin. "So that's it! Even if you do so, I think it'll be worthless, but just to make sure, I'll kill you before you two can combine. You'll die first!"

"T-t-time out for a second!" Goku pleaded, bringing his hands together in a beseeching manner. "Wait, please!"

"Prepare yourself!" Majin Buu responded, charging forth.

"D-dammit!" Goku swore. Then, in a blaze of light, the Saiyajin transformed to Super Saiyajin Three.

"It's useless!" Buu laughed. He struck out at Goku with a punch, only to be avoided as Goku flipped over him.

"Gohan! Find the Earring right away!" Goku yelled down.

* * *

In the interim, Juuhachi-gou and Amara continued their repugnant journey deeper and deeper into Majin Buu's viscera in search of the boys and Piccolo. Unlike them, the two women had been expecting Buu to pull out some kind of dirty trick on them when he reappeared and demanded to fight Juumara and Gotenji, so that was why they were able to avoid being absorbed.

Privately, Juuhachi-gou wasn't faring very well mentally, as she strolled alongside Amara down a blood vessel-walled tunnel. Just being in that place sent an uncommon shiver through her. In spite of that, though, it was all insignificant to Juuhachi-gou, as her son was in there somewhere and she find him no matter what.

As Juuhachi-gou kept walking her mind suddenly flashbacked to two years ago before this whole crazy mess started…

"_KOJI!" _

_A four-year-old Koji gulped nervously as he sat in his mother's backyard, a muddy and still very much alive crawfish squirming fruitlessly in his strong grasp as he had it poised over his mouth to devour it. Juuhachi-gou saw this and immediately stalked up to him to give him a scolding. _

"_What do you think you're doing?" Juuhachi-gou snarled as she grabbed Koji by the ear and effortlessly lifted him onto his feet. _

_Koji gritted his teeth and squealed uselessly as his stern mother twisted his ear. "Kaasan I'm sorry, but I got curious about how it taste and I wanted to eat it." _

_Juuhachi-gou's scowl lessened to a small degree, knowing that little boys would be little boys, especially when they were Saiyajin. "Well that still doesn't let you off the hook! If you were hungry you should've just came inside and asked for something, we have tons of food!" The Jinzouningen retorted while releasing her son's ear, which the young half-Saiyajin was very grateful for. Man, for someone who's not Saiyajin sure was strong as one, he thought. _

"_Woman! Boy! What's going on out here?" Both mother and son spun around when they heard the whisky-laced voice of Vegeta, the prince lounged near the entryway of the kitchen door, scowling in slight annoyance at his wife and son. _

"_Our son is out here trying to eat crawfish, despite the fact that it was still alive!" Juuhachi-gou announced, tossing Koji a ferocious scowl who had every right to look chagrined. _

_The Saiyajin lifted a dark brow at his wife and folded his arms. "So?" _

"_So?" Juuhachi-gou snapped incredulously, "It's disgusting! He could've at least killed it and then heat it up first." _

"_Well it's not all that unnatural you see. We Saiyajin aren't averse to eating our meals without having to warm them up. Disregarding fact that he's a half-caste, he's picked up on that trait." _

"_Yeah, well no son of mine is going to be eating things that are still breathing!" Juuhachi-gou snarled firmly, her arms now akimbo._

"_Whatever." Vegeta dismissed the entire conversation and went back inside the house. _

Juuhachi-gou was roughly shaken out of her reverie when Amara grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Jinzouningen! Are you in another world or something?" The Saiyajin no Oujo demanded. You almost stepped into that stomach acid!"

Looking up, Juuhachi-gou's eyes widened when she perceived the beginnings of a ocean of slime just in front of them. She couldn't believe she was actually about to walk into that.

"T-thanks, Amara," she said, still feeling unsettled.

"Don't thank me," Amara warned her icily. "I only saved you because I refuse to allow your life to be taken by mere stomach acid, when that's my right."

Juuhachi-gou ignored her, still surveying the stomach acid. "Looks like we're going have to fly across this disgusting stuff."

Amara nodded agreeingly. "Let's go, I can't stand the stench of this place."

Rising into the air, the two rocketed away across the stomach acid. However, it was right after they had spanned the acid that more problems arose for them when massive worm-like creatures exploded out of the 'ground' in front of them, baring very sharp teeth.

* * *

Goku gnashed his teeth and grunted as he successfully blocked off a right across attempt from Majin Buu, although the blow still had him rattling and hurt more than he wanted to admit. Dammit, Majin Buu was still too much for him! Even at level three he wasn't a match for Majin Buu, especially with his newly required power. But Goku remembered that he didn't necessary have to beat Buu, all he had to do was just stall him long enough for Gohan to find the other Potara Earring. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

_*Hurry son!*_ Goku mused briefly before he battle-cried and lunged back in at his powerful foe. Back and forth they went, trading blows fast and furiously, jockeying for position and with no real true cut winner thus far.

While their skirmish raged on, Gohan was still in the midst of searching for the Potara Earring in the heap of rocks he saw them land in, tossing the boulders left to right effortlessly.

*_Baka Gohan! Why do you have to be so damn clumsy?*_ Gohan scolded himself.

"HAAAAAIIII!" Majin Buu shrieked, a column of pink ki lurching out of his throat and lunged angrily at his long-haired opponent, and to his disappointment the Saiyajin dodged it with ease. With a cry of his own, Goku counterattacked with a violent storm of ki blasts, watching with satisfaction as his fury slammed harshly into the Majin. But there was no time for even a short celebration as Majin Buu with abnormal quickness recovered and dashed back at the Saiyajin, striking out at him hatefully and cruelly.

"Gohan, hurry!" Goku hissed fiercely under his breath as he tried to get some distance from Majin Buu's onslaught. However as he ducked a roundhouse kick from Majin Buu, Buu spun around quickly and caught the Saiyajin in the face with a savage kick. Stunning him, Buu gave him snapping blows to the face before sending him gliding backwards with another kick to the jaw. At the last second, Goku recaptured his equilibrium and stopped his unsuspected flight to touch down on a rock. His fists clenched tightly at his side as Majin Buu began taunting him with sneering laughter, knowing that he could easily defeat the Saiyajin warrior at any time he chose. But Goku didn't allow Buu to see the expression of a man who knows he's defeated, instead an expression of inhuman focus.

"Begone, small fry! And I'll even send you on your way with one of your favorite techniques!"

Goku gasped when Majin Buu cupped his hands at his sides and got into a familiar pose. "KAMEHAME-"

Down below, Gohan beamed brilliantly as he'd at last discovered the missing Potara Earring.

"Yo Tousan! I've found it!" he yelled happily.

Goku smiled at the news and just hoped he could dodge his own attack in time enough to get to his son.

In the meantime, Majin Buu continued to gather power in his curved fingers, leering manically. This would certainly finish the Saiyajin off. "HAAA-"

Before he could finish the phrase, the demon broke off in his words, even reabsorbing the energy he had amassed back into his body as a sudden pain befell him. Goku stared up in bewilderment.

"N-no, dammit!" Buu screamed in rebellious anger.

Then, right in front of Goku's eyes, the vest Majin Buu had inherited from Gotenji shifted into Piccolo's weighted cloak.

"S-so that's it!" Goku said, instantly realizing what's going on. He grinned. "Those half-pints have returned to normal from their Fusion! But why is Piccolo coming out strongest now? Majin Buu absorbed both Gotenji and Juumara, so shouldn't he have taken her form next since she's strongest after Gotenji?"

Then again, Goku thought, since Majin Buu inherited the features of those he absorbs, he was rather glad he didn't take after the female hybrid. Fighting him like that would be completely weird, even for him! But still, what happened to Juumara then?

Majin Buu was asking himself the same thing. Had Juumara still not fully digested yet?

Suddenly, Goku rose up in front of the confidence Majin, fists planted on his hips as he brimmed with renewed confidence now.

"You ran out of time!" Goku boasted. "That's too bad for you, Buu. Your power has dropped quite a bit because of this!"

Below, Gohan, who had been too engrossed with the scene transpiring above him, finally remembered he had the Potara Earring in his hand.

"F-Father! What did you want me to do with this again?" Gohan called up.

Instead of answering Gohan, Goku slipped back into his base state.

"How disappointing," Goku said. "With the way you are now, Gohan can definitely beat you without going to the trouble of combining with me!"

For a moment, Buu bristled. Then, his mouth curled upward into a smile.

"Well, it's a good thing I took out some insurance, just in case!"

"What do you mean?" Goku asked.

Even as the Saiyajin asked that, the piece of his head tentacle, that had been sliced off by Goku earlier, quivered then melted down into a mass of pink glob. The glob then squiggled its way quietly towards Gohan, who was completely unaware.

Privately, Majin Buu couldn't believe his good fortune. Just when it seemed the tables were being turned on him, a chance for another great reversal had appeared. Gohan, what a powerful addition the young powerful warrior would make to his collection; with him, he would gain power that exceeded what got from Super Gotenji. Yes, Gohan was his ticket to victory, and his enemies didn't even realize it!

Bringing his head tentacle into view, Buu arrogantly pointed at the missing piece of it.

"This part that was cut off. Why do you think I haven't returned it to normal?" he boasted.

Goku looked at Majin Buu completely dumbfounded, still having no idea what the demon was getting at. And Buu chuckled at his stupidity.

When Buu turned toward Gohan, it became all-too clear to the Saiyajin what was happening when he saw Majin Buu's fragment rising up behind Gohan like a tidal wave.

"GOHAN! BEHIND YOU!"

Gohan turned, but it was already too late. Majin Buu's fragment enclosed around the half-Saiyajin, just as it had Juumara, Gotenji, and Piccolo earlier. As Gohan struggled to get free, the Potara Earring fell from his hand. In short time, the blob had completely consumed Gohan.

"D-dammit, no!" Goku swore. Witnessing the Potara Earring fall, the Saiyajin quickly made a beeline towards it to pick it up. Though as he did, he noticed Buu already calling his fragment back towards him, and he swore again. Debarking, he picked up the earring, but then turned to see Majin Buu about to go through yet another transformation.

Beside him, Majin Buu cackled ghoulishly and he clenched his fists in anticipation. Flinging his head back Buu then screamed, "Come to Papa!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	56. Vegetto's Grand Entrance

**Disclaimer: I still don't make money off the DBZ series or their characters.**

**Chapter Fifty-Six: Vegetto's Grand Entrance**

* * *

"Please don't hurt us! Pretty please!" Surprisingly, these pleas for mercy were coming from a couple of wormlike enzymes that were living inside Majin Buu's body. The reason they were begging for mercy was due to the two women of incredible strength and speed who were harassing them.

Juuhachi-gou and Amara exchanged looks of puzzlement, both women puzzled by the nature of these strange, talking creatures whimpering at their feet. They'd been on their way in search for Koji and Goten and Piccolo, when they'd suddenly been accosted by these two creatures. Both the women had quickly come to the agreement that the worms were some kind of defense of Majin Buu's body to keep unwanted things out, so they naturally attacked first and decided to ask questions later. However, just as soon as the ladies had delivered one punch to the worms each, they instantly crumpled into blubbering messes and started pleading for forgiveness.

"Hmph! What cowardly creatures!" the Saiyajin Prince remarked in distaste.

"Yeah, they are pretty pathetic," Juuhachi-gou agreed, flipping her hair out of her face.

"You two big bullies!" squealed one of the worms. "I oughta call our Poppa down and tell on you two for beating on us!"

"Yeah! You wouldn't be able to treat our big, strong Poppa like that," said the other worm. "He'd eat you two up and spit you back out!"

"Ooh, we're shaking in our boots," Juuhachi-gou said, her voice had been so sharp with sarcasm then that it could've slice someone in half.

"Jinzouningen, let's not waste anymore time with these two brats," Amara suggested, while staring at the creatures in contempt. She was about to walk off, but Juuhachi-gou grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"Wait. Maybe these creatures have seen Koji and the others," Juuhachi-gou suggested, releasing Amara's arm.

Amara nodded. "Hm, you could be right." Together, she and Juuhachi-gou turned back to the worms. "Listen up, you two, I-"

The rest of the Saiyajin no Oujo's words were cut off, when the area they were in started to violently shake.

"What in the hell's going on here?" Amara demanded, while she and Juuhachi-gou instinctively took to the air so they wouldn't lose their balance. Meanwhile, the two worm siblings had scurried off to somewhere safe. Amara saw this and swore in vexation; there went their only possible lead.

"Hey Amara, look!" Juuhachi-gou suddenly called, sounding urgent.

That in itself quickly got Amara's attention, as she looked around to see what Juuhachi-gou wanted to see. Something akin to a gasp forced its way through her lips, when she saw Juuhachi-gou was seeing. The walls around them were shifting and changing in blurry motions that were nearly confusing. The blood vessels near them became enlarged, and the 'room' they were standing in expanded. Most importantly, Buu's ki was rising incredibly.

"What's that punk up to now, dammit?" Amara snarled, disturbed by the increase of the Majin's power. Just how strong could he get?

"I know what it is," Juuhachi-gou answered, looking grim.

"Care to fill me in?" Amara asked tartly.

Juuhachi-gou ignored the tone of the Princess's voice. Then knowledgeably said, "The change in Majin Buu's molecular structure...His power growing...Buu is transforming."

"Transforming?" Amara repeated, staring at Juuhachi-gou. A dismal cognizance sprung up in her mind. "That must mean..."

Juuhachi-gou slowly nodded. "He's gotten Gohan, too. And if Buu's assimilated Gohan, then...then that mean it's really over with. Earth really is doomed."

With that unpromising knowledge, neither of the two women said another word for a quite a while.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down around Goku as he hung frozen from shock in midair. At that moment, he was unable to do anything but watch on helplessly while Majin Buu absorbed Gohan into his person, adding his eldest son to his collection of stolen fighters and their powers. Just as he had done Goku's youngest son Goten, Piccolo, and Vegeta's family. And Gohan had been the last person eligible to form a Fusion Warrior of incredible strength and speed with. The tide of the battle had just shifted back into Majin Buu's favor once again. Now that the Majin could use his unleashed power Rou Kaioushin had awakened inside Gohan, together with his already own incredible power and the stolen powers of Gotenji and Juumara, Goku knew it was going to take a big miracle to get himself and the remaining survivors of the planet out the mess they were in now.

Meanwhile, Majin Buu was finishing up the process of his latest transformation. For a time, no one could see his features as they were blotted out completely by the glob that had snatched up Gohan and elongated itself over the demon's entire body. Suddenly, Majin Buu's body became awash in pink luminance so bright, that it blinded everyone who was close by for several long moments. After the light had finally toned back down to a more tolerable level, Goku quickly looked forward to see what kind of monstrosity Buu had turned into. His face twisted in a snarl at what he saw.

Like all the previous transformations Buu had undergone, after using a piece of his body to absorb his enemies, the only changes that had been made to Majin Buu was that he was now donning the orange shogi that had belonged to Gohan and his head tentacle fell even more down to the back of his knees. It made the normally peaceful Goku burn with rage to see Majin Buu dressed in his son's gi shirt. But what really annoyed the Saiyajin a whole lot was to see some of the features of his first-born son twisted in malice on the face of his most hated enemy.

Majin Buu wasn't aware that Goku's eyes were on him at first, he was too busy staring down at himself in wonder. He wiggled the fingers on each of his hand excitedly; he could feel it, the fantastic power he'd just obtained from incorporating Gohan into his being, flowing richly and heavily through every fiber of his body, tingling all of his nerves. He loved the feeling! And he couldn't wait to feel that power bursting through his hands as he eradicated everyone and everything on this wretched planet. And the first person he was going to test it on was going to be...

For the first time since his latest metamorphosis, Majin Buu looked up and met gazes with Goku. His mouth quirked into a cold, malignant grin when he saw the look of disgust on the Saiyajin warrior's face.

"This is absolutely incredible!" Buu stated. "I'm even more powered-up than last time. And the best part is, I'm not on a time limit!"

"Why, you...!" Goku growled, trembling in rage. "That was dirty of you Majin Buu, absorbing everyone!"

The reborn Majin Buu only laughed.

"Winning means everything to me, just as I'm sure it does you." Buu grinned. "So, what will you do now, _Father_? The Son Gohan you wanted to merge with first is now apart of my collection. There isn't anyone left for you to merge with!"

Goku could only glower at Majin Buu, realizing that he was right. As he looked around, he saw Tienshinhan was still down from Buu's sneak attack earlier, so he would be no good. Then he saw that the only other people still left conscious were Dende and...the Saiyajin's face fell when he finally noticed Mr. Satan there the whole entire time.

"As strong as I am now, I could effortlessly kill you now, Goku," Majin Buu called down, quickly gaining the warrior's attention. "Fortunate for you, however, I do have a kind heart. What would you say if I were to offer you the chance to combine with someone?"

"I'd say you were lying!" Goku countered.

"No. I will allow you to find someone to fuse with," Majin Buu told him assuredly. "I'll give you to the count of five to find somebody, and if you can do that, I guess you're in good shape then."

For a moment, Goku fixed Majin Buu with a disbelieving stare. Should he really trust Majin Buu and accept his offer? Or was this still just some trick of Buu's to get him to lower his guard long enough for him to delivering a kill shot to him.

_*But what other choice do I have? *_ Goku asked himself. Then aloud he asked, "But what good would it do now? There's no one else like either of us left to fuse with!"

"That's your problem. Not mine," Majin Buu replied indifferently

Goku fumed, but he didn't say anything as he knew he didn't have the time to do so. Before the demon could get to 5, he had to find someone to fuse with, or it would be all over with. But who could he do it with? As he looked back down and saw Tienshinhan still lying motionless on the ground, he knew his old friend was definitely out of the question. Then who else was there?

"One!" Majin Buu started, cracking a knuckle.

_*Well, there's also either Dende or Mr. Satan,* _a detached voice pointed out to him.

Goku balked at the suggestion. Fusing with either Dende or Mr. Satan? Merging together with either of them permanently wasn't something Goku saw as a very good idea. It wasn't because he had anything against the two. Dende, the young Namekseijin who had brought back to Earth to take the place of Kami when the previous one joined together with his other half, was a good friend of his. And Mr. Satan...well, Goku was sure that the man possessed a good heart in him...somewhere. But no matter which person he chose as his Fusion partner, he and that person still wouldn't create a person with enough power to be a match for Majin Buu.

"Two!" Another kunckle was cracked.

Goku looked downward, and after having to look this way and that, he finally spotted his two potential Fusion partners hiding behind some rocks. He distantly noticed that were staring back at him with looks of worry and confusion mingled together, as he was giving them each an assessing look in turn.

"Three!" Another knuckle cracked.

_*Dende,* _he murmured thoughtfully in his mind as he evaluated the young Kami first. It was well known that Dende wasn't much of a fighter, his real talents lay in his healing abilities- which was one of the reasons that had made him the perfect candidate to fill in the position as Earth's new God.*_Well, if I were to chose him as my partner, then at least I'd be able to heal myself whenever I'm in a jam.*_ Goku laughed a bit at that. Then, the Saiyajin tried to imagine what he and Dende would look like as one person. What he got was an image of Dende with his hair and outfit, grinning triumphantly with his fists planted on his hips. Goku cringed at the picture; he may liked Dende and generally thought that the Namekseijin were fine people, but he didn't want to look like that for the rest of his life. *_No, I can't use him, anyway. His size would be more harm than helpful. Besides, if we do win this, we're going to need the Dragonballs, and I don't wanna risk something happening to them by us fusing together. So, that means...*_

"Four!" Another knuckle cracked.

Goku's gaze then shifted onto Mr. Satan, and the Saiyajin instantly quailed as the realization that the annoying man was actually the only person really left to fuse with slammed into him hard. The Saiyajin warrior then suffered a image of what he and the martial arts champion would like as one person; it wasn't a very pretty picture as the result was Mr. Satan, dressed in a sleeveless version of the outfight he was wearing now, but with Goku's shirt underlying his, and Goku's wristbands circling his wrists. *_Man, I don't wanna fuse permanently with Mr. Satan! Especially with his lack of understanding about ki. But I don't really have any choice, do I? He may not be the great fighter he tells all his fans he is, but he at least knows basic fighting. Grrr! I have no other choice! It's all or nothing!*_

Reaching his decision, Goku then yelled, "Satan!...Catch!"

Raising his right hand to pitch the other Potarra Earring at the proclaimed destroyer of Cell. However, the Saiyajin had only brought his arm halfway forward when he suddenly froze completely. The warrior's eyes and mouth went wide as he felt the twinge of a very familiar presence at the edge of his sharp senses. In the next instant, Goku broke out in a elated grin.

"All right!" he whooped in joy. "I don't know how he got back here, but that's definitely Vegeta's ki that I'm sensing! There's still a chance to beat Majin Buu!"

Unfortunately, while Goku had took that moment to rejoice over the return of the Saiyajin Prince, he'd also just wasted the allotted time Majin Buu had granted him so he could find someone to merge with.

"Five!" he informed him, grinning wickedly. He cracked his knuckle once more. "Now, prepare to die!"

Majin Buu promptly stretched out his right hand, building up ki in his palm as he prepared to deliver the killing strike against Son Goku. However, at the same time he'd been doing that, Goku had brought the first two fingers of his right hand to his forehead. With a triumphant laugh, Majin Buu had finally tossed his ki blast at Goku-only to hit nothing, as the Saiyajin disappeared at the last second. Majin Buu stared at the empty air before him in blank stupor. He then grimaced in fury.

"Wha the...Where the hell did he go?" he demanded.

* * *

High in the sky over a chain of islands, far from where the battles had been taking place, Vegeta and Uranai Baba winked back into existence on the planet. For a moment, Vegeta found himself closing his eyes, basking in the late afternoon sun that shone down on him. He was privately amazed as he realized just how much he'd actually missed being on this planet. Unfortunately, only too soon was he reminded of just exactly why he'd been brought back there in the first place.

"A-all right, this as far as I bring you, Vegeta," Baba said, sounding very nervous. And who could blame her when there was extremely powerful maniac running loose over the planet? "I'm sorry, but I'm too scared!"

"Hmph. Save your breath," Vegeta told her. Then in grim humor he said, "It will just mean my getting killed by Majin Buu will come later."

Baba gulped, but refrained from replying.

Vegeta felt out for Majin Buu's power again, trying to measure just how large his ki was. Though, he really didn't need to do that, because from what he had seen while in Hell, Majin Buu had grown unaccountably powerful since the last time they'd squared off.

_*And that dirty bastard used my family to gain that power!*_ a voice reminded the Prince, only serving to make him grow even more furious at the demon. However, after a second, the Prince got his emotions back under control and let out a deep, calming breath. He knew now was not the time to let himself be control by his anger.

This was his second and last chance at Majin Buu. He just couldn't make any mistakes this time. But in the back of his mind, he feared that he wouldn't make much of a difference at all. If Kakarott couldn't handle Majin Buu, then what chance did he have against the Majin? His younger counterpart was always succeeding where he always failed, but could he able to do the same?

As if invoked by Vegeta's thoughts, Goku had reappeared a few feet away from the Saiyajin Prince. Sensing his presence, both Vegeta and Baba instantly whirled on the younger Saiyajin, gaping at him.

"Kakarott!" "Goku!" the two shouted together in equal amounts of surprise.

"Hey, guys!" Goku greeted cheerily, momentarily acting as if the world wasn't in the trouble that it was in.

"Kakarott? What are you doing here?" Vegeta demanded, trying to hide his shock. "I thought you were back in Other World!"

"Oh! I was brought back to life, see?" Goku replied, gesturing towards the spot over his head where his halo had once hung for the two to see. He looked over at Vegeta and saw a halo circling the Prince's head. "Oi, I see that Enma Daio-sama gave you permission to stay on Chikyuu for twenty-hours. And it's a very good thing that he did, too, because boy could I use your help, Vegeta."

Just as Vegeta was about retort, the two Saiyajin and Baba abruptly felt a familiar presence advancing their way, and very fast.

Sensing her fear, Goku looked over at Baba seriously. "I think you should be leaving now. I don't want you to get caught up in what's about to happen."

"H-hey, you don't have to tell me twice!" Baba answered. "Good luck to the both of you. I'll be pulling for you in Other World!" Then, without another word or backwards glance, the fortune teller dashed away from the scene at top speed on her crystal ball.

"Vegeta, take this," Goku said shortly after Baba had took her leave, extending his hand out toward the Prince with the other Potara Earring resting in his palm. The Prince noticed the jewel and regarded it curiously, vaguely remember seeing Kaioushin and those two servants of his donning similar jewellery.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" he asked.

"Look, there isn't much time to talk, you need to put it in your right ear quickly before Majin Buu arrives," Goku told him urgently.

There was a pause. Then Vegeta simply asked, "Why should I?"

"If you put this on too, then you an I can merge together!" Goku said succinctly.

"Merge?" Vegeta repeated. Goku never noticed the cold anger that twisted the Prince's features as he spoke on.

"Yeah, Fusion. It's when two warriors merge together and..."

"Forget it!"

Goku stared at the older Saiyajin in befuddlement. "But Vegeta..."

"Don't you but Vegeta me, Kakarott!" the Prince barked, gritting his teeth furiously. "You really piss me off, you know that! What's wrong, is not even this Super Saiyajin Three ability strong enough to defeat Majin Buu?" Vegeta glared at Goku bitterly when he saw the look of surprise that slipped on the younger fighter. "Did you really think you could hide something like that from me forever? When I saw you transform in your first fight against Majin Buu while I in Other World, I was completely humiliated to discover that you hid your true strength during our battle, and that the power gap between you and me was still wide! You made me feel like a complete fool!"

"Vegeta, I'm sorry," Goku said softly. With a sheepish laugh, he added, "But hey! I can only do it for a short while."

"Oh, save your half-assed apologies!" Vegeta spat, still glowering coldly at his rival.

Goku looked like he was about to try and reason with Vegeta some more...but he never got the chance to.

Majin Buu had just arrived.

A short while ago, Majin Buu had been flying through the empty afternoon sky at an insane speed, roaring bloody murder as he headed in the direction he felt Goku's ki reappear in. He didn't know what the fool thought he was doing teleporting away, as he was only prolonging his inevitable death! Before the Saiyajin had vanished, he had actually thought be at least a little kind and make the warrior's death quick and painless. But after Goku had made him to look like a fool, he was going to make nearly killing all the human population earlier pale in comparison to what he would do when he got his hands on the Saiyajin. Then once he was done with him, he was going to finally take care of those three insects that were trailing him and thought he didn't know about them. He was going to especially enjoy it when he finally got rid of that annoying man and that mutt of his!

As Buu started to close in his on his target, his furious grimace turned into a scowl of puzzlement when he suddenly picked up another ki signature. It was strong, yet weaker than Goku's (a whole lot weaker than his own, of course) but the strange thing about it was that it felt very familiar, too.

"Now where have I felt that power before?" he wondered to himself.

When an answer hadn't come to him in the next few moments, Majin Buu had opted to just stop thinking about it. Especially when he saw the two shapes hovering the air a good distance ahead of him, he would see who it was, then. They were waiting for him, Goku and the owner of the irritatingly familiar battle power.

At last, the demon had finally reached his two targets and pulled up short a good distance between the three of them. Briefly, he flung a murderous glare in Goku's direction, who met the look back with a unflinching black stare, before looking over in the direction of that familiar power he had sensed along with Goku's. If Buu had eyebrows, they would've rose in something akin to mild surprise when he saw a man, shorter than Goku, staring at him with the same look he'd just given the other man. The man's body looked so tightly wound up, that it looked like he was sprang to attack at any second. But as laughable as that thought was to him, it was nowhere near as laughable to him once he'd finally realized just who the second man was.

"Why, Vegeta, this is an unexpected surprise!" he said with the tone of someone who'd just met up with an old good friend. "I had thought I'd killed you earlier. Don't tell me you've return to pull a Gohan on me? He had made his little return to get revenge, but he failed in the end. He's now apart of me- he's now apart of greatness." Grinning coldly, the Majin tauntingly added, "As is your woman and your son. Juuhachi-gou and Koji- wasn't that their names? They hate you, you know? Koji can't believe he's been looking up to a cowardly weakling all these years. And Juuhachi-gou can't believe she fell for such a big wimp. Plus, your little sister Amara thanks you're a shameful disgrace to your little Saiyajin race. You really let them down, Vegeta."

"Vegeta, don't listen to him," Goku advised. "He's just trying to get you all worked up. You got to stay cal-"

"KONO YOGORE!" Vegeta roared in rage, unable to contain himself any longer. With a howl of rage, he clenched his fists and pushed himself into a Super Saiyajin Two, his hair shooting up in a corona of dark-gold spikes and peals of electricity crackled through his aura.

"Wait, Vegeta!" Goku warned. "You can't beat him like that! Put the Potara on, please! Merging is the only way!"

But the Prince was too far gone in his fury to pay attention to what Goku was saying to him. With a shout, he barrelled towards Majin Buu, his fists and feet swinging as soon as he reached him.

Why did that man have to be so thick-headed and stubborn? The Saiyajin shook his head, as he knew he didn't have time to think about that. He knew he had to get over there and help Vegeta before he got himself killed again, and the next time he died he would ceased to exist forever. Growling, Goku reluctantly slipped the other Potarra Earring under into his pocket, and then powered up to Super Saiyajin Two.

"Damn it!" he swore softly under his breath, before dashing over to give Vegeta an assist.

* * *

In the Kaioushin Realm things weren't looking so well to the three spectators as they continued to watch the battle on Earth. Rou Kaioushin was glowering at the images at the orb.

"What are those two fools doing down there!" Rou Kaioushin bellowed, staring frustratedly at his crystal ball as he watched Goku and Vegeta trying to fight Majin Buu as two people, instead of one. And they weren't holding up too well against the empowered demon. "Why haven't they tried to fused yet?"

"It's that stubborn Vegeta, honorable forefather," answered Kibitoshin with a sigh. "He and Goku-san don't get along very well."

"Gohan may have been willing to fuse with his father, but Vegeta is another matter, I'm afraid," said Kosumo.

"Yeah, well that Vegeta person better get over himself in a hurry!" said Rou Kaioushin a bit in annoyance. "I didn't give Goku my life just for him to go back to Earth and get himself killed again!"

* * *

Back on Earth, things weren't going to well for the last two Saiyajin. Despite the fact that the two were actually working together for a change, they were just still no match against the wicked Majin. Even now, Majin Buu was knocking the two Warriors away like insignificant bugs, sending Vegeta flying into Goku, and the two went crashing onto one of the islands below. Cackling sadistically, Buu fired a vicious ki bolt of dark pink energy after the duo. Seconds later, a brilliant explosion billowed up in the center of the island, booming loudly in the air. The sound was coupled by Majin Buu's own laughter of evil satisfaction at his handiwork.

Below, the once fairly beautiful island the Saiyajin had crashed onto was now a ruined mess after Buu's attack. The terrain had been cruelly gnawed up, what trees or wild plantlife that grew there had been burned into black cinders, and large mountains of rock lay scattered all over the place.

The rock pile in the exact center started to shift, and then Goku and Vegeta pulled themselves from out beneath the rocks. They may still be alive after Majin Buu's attack, but by their despairing appearance, one would wonder how long that would last. Not having enough energy to maintain their Super Saiyajin forms, the two had returned back to their normal states. Cuts and tears in several places on their clothes, bruises covered their faces and the rest of their bodies, and their breaths came out in long, ragged pants. Meanwhile, Majin Buu was hovering high over them looking as fresh as a daisy.

They were in trouble.

"D-damn it...!" Vegeta snarled, slamming his fists on the battered ground in fury and frustration. "This is madness! How the hell are we going to defeat him? He just keeps knocking us away as if we were nothing!"

"Vegeta, I already told you what it's gonna take to beat Majin Buu," Goku answered earnestly.

Vegeta shot the low-class Saiyajin a coldly angry look. "And I've already told YOU that I'm NOT going through with that NONSENSE!"

"Ghhh! _Vegeta_!" Goku growled out in genuine annoyance. That enough made Vegeta look over at the younger man, and he was startled to see Goku's eyes ablaze with such anger and intensity as he was seeing now. The normally, irritatingly carefree Saiyajin had never directed that look at him before. "You stubborn, thick-headed fool, wake up, already! In case you haven't noticed, Vegeta, everyone's gone; Majin Buu had taken everyone we cared about from us! He's consumed all our family and friends, even Juuhachi-gou! Right now as I speak, she's trapped inside Majin Buu, along with your son, and Amara, too! And unless you and I do something this instant, they'll be stuck inside there forever, unable to die!"

Goku continued on, though in a gentler tone. "Look Vegeta, I know your heart is still back on our home world, but you have to realize that it's gone and is never coming back. Chikyuu is our new home now! And I don't know about you, but I'll be damned if I allow someone to destroy this world, too. You're always telling me about the pride of a Saiyajin warrior, how we're the only ones left to preserve the legacy of our race. Well, you've got to realize that you, me, or even Amara won't always be around here to do that. But we are creating a race just strong as our old one, one that we can be just as proud of. It's time you and I forget our old birthrights, and open our eyes so we can see what have right in front of us now. You and I hadn't been able to save our old race when Furiza destroyed it, so let's not let Majin Buu destroy this one, too."

For a long moment, Vegeta stared in amazement at Goku, his brain digesting every passionate word the younger man had just spoken. Then, after a time, cold decisiveness hardened the Prince's features and he stood to his feet, levelling his heated gaze up at the grinning figure floating above him and his rival.

"All right, Kakarott, hand me that damn earring!" he ordered without taking his eyes off Majin Buu, extending his left hand out in Goku's direction. The younger Saiyajin broke out in a elated grin at the implications of Vegeta's words.

"Wait, you actually mean you'll combine with me Vegeta?" Goku asked, rising to his feet.

"If a lowly peasant like you can do this, then so can! Now hand me the earring, quickly!"

Not needing to be told again, Goku hastily tossed the earring at the Prince, who caught it neatly in one hand.

"Which ear you wanted me to place it in?" Vegeta inquired.

"The right."

"Kakarott, I want you know this," Vegeta snarled while fastening the jewellery onto his right ear, "I'm only merging with you just to defeat Majin Buu! But once the Fusion ends after thirty minutes, I'm never going through with this idiocy with you ever again!"

The sheepish laugh that Goku replied to his words with gave Vegeta a horrible, sinking feeling that the younger man was about to say something he definitely wouldn't like.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you, Vegeta: this Fusion doesn't last for thirty minutes, it lasts permanently."

"What! You tell me this at the last second!" Vegeta bellowed in rage, looking fit to pop right now. "Why, you stupid basta-"

Vegeta's tirade was abruptly cut off, when his body was suddenly awash in bright, green light; beside him, the same brilliance showered down on Goku as well.

"Kakarott? What's happening?" Vegeta demanded, as an invisible force picked up both he and Goku, turning them around to face each other.

"Arigatou, Vegeta," Goku said, his voice full of gratitude.

Vegeta's mouth had moved to make a tart reply at his counterpart's words, but never got the chance. The invisible force had slammed the two into each other, the whole world exploded in green light for a long moment.

A few seconds earlier, Majin Buu had decided to finally finish off his two beaten and battered opponents. However, before he could even reach his enemies, an eye-searing, green luminance whipped up out of nowhere around him, making him stop in his tracks and forcing him to put his hand out in front of his face to shield his eyes as the light was too brilliant even for him to stare into.

The light finally died down a short while later. Realizing that it was okay for him to see again, Majin Buu lowered his arm from his face. Growling in a mix of confusion about what had just happened and exasperation that whatever it was had stopped him from killing off the remaining Saiyajin for the moment, the Majin looked downward where the strange light had originated at.

His eyes widened then narrowed when he saw standing below him weren't two fighters ready to be mowed down like grass. Now standing there was one single being.

"And just who, pray tell, are you?" he demanded.

The newcomer flashed the Majin a wicked, cruel smirk- Vegeta's smirk- as he then spoke, his voice a perfect mix of Vegeta's and Goku's. "Who am I, you ask? Well, I am neither Vegeta nor Goku. I was brought into this world to be your absolute destruction, Majin Buu. I am...Vegetto!"

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	57. The Last Great Reversal

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ or the characters. I just own the original characters in this story.**

**Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Last Great Reversal**

* * *

"Vegetto..." Majin Buu sounded completely disinterested as he repeated the name of the powerfully-built newcomer in front of him. The power thief exhaled a sigh of boredom and annoyance.

Merging...Couldn't these Saiyajin come up with something more original than combining together? He really didn't want to have to go through another Fusion again. Not because he was afraid or anything- far from it!- even if he was sensing an absurdly strong ki emanating from the warrior. The Majin was just tired of fighting someone whose lifespan only lasted for a short time, only to split back into the feeble fighters that created them and cease to amuse him at all. It was all so repetitively boring.

"You were created for my absolute destruction?" Buu asked. He bellowed with mocking guffaws.

In front of him, Vegetto's smile had somehow managed to become even crueller than it had already been a second ago while he watched the demon shake in fits of laughter. When he had finally gotten himself back under control, Majin Buu crossed his arms and looked haughtily at his self-proclaimed annihilator.

"You Earth fighters really amuse, you know that?" Buu said. "Those other two warriors, Gotenji and Juumara, said something along the same line you just spoke. But in the end, even they couldn't stop me. Now they're both apart of me, apart of the greatness that is Majin Buu!"

"And I thought I was full of myself!" That had been the pure Vegeta part of the Fusion that had just spoken then, the most dominant part the Saiyajin crossbreed. "You call yourself greatness, but yet the only thing great about is you is that you have to rely on consuming people like food, and then taking their powers to use as if they were your own!"

"And your point is?" Majin Buu growled. Smugness surged through Vegetto as he could clearly hear from the tone in Buu's voice just then, that he was starting to break thought that lofty, arrogant attitude of his.

"Heh. My point is...that your little reign of terror all stops here, Majin Buu!" the intercrossed Saiyajin answered decisively. "You've finally reached the end of your road, my friend!"

The Majin snorted. "You know, I'm already starting to get real annoyed with you," Majin Buu said. He then grinned crookedly as he added, "And you definitely wouldn't like what I do to you if I were to get annoyed."

Vegetto simply beckoned him to come at him.

"Fool! You dare have the gall to think that I am something to play with?" the demon barked furiously. "Take this!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, a ki blast left his right hand. Vegetto didn't even try to make an attempt to move out of the way, as the intense blast of energy blazed through the air towards him. It struck him on target, the attack exploding as soon as it made contact with the Fusion Warrior's body, consuming him in smoke. Majin Buu grinned callously at his handiwork.

"Hah! He won't be laughing at me or anyone else for that matter," he murmured triumphantly.

But much to the Majin's irritation and mild surprise, he did hear more laughter behind the cloud of smoke in front of him. When it dispersed moments later, Majin Buu was secretly disgusted to see that not only was Vegetto still alive and unscathed, and smirking at him; he didn't even have at least a burnt mark from where his ki blast had struck at.

"Hey, Majin Buu..." Vegetto said, feigning an innocent expression. "What was that? Were you trying to kill me or tickle me, just then? Either way, you failed at doing both!"

Majin Buu bristled from the Potara hybrid's insult, gnashing his teeth in fury.

"Why you piece of crap!" he hissed between his sharp teeth, gathering power in both his hands this time. He grew even angrier when he saw Vegetto regarding him with the interest of one observing paint drying. "That's the last time you'll ever insult me or anyone else!" So saying, the power thief fired off a salvo of pink ki blasts at his irritating opponent this time around. Like his previous attack, each ki blasts hit home and instantly detonated as soon as they impacted Vegetto's body.

Buu grinned nastily as Vegetto became engulfed in smoke again. There! That shut that idiot's mouth up for good!

Unfortunately, he was once again found wrong when heard very familiar mocking chuckles behind the screen of smoke. When the smoke ebbed away this time, revealing that Vegetto was still alive and still didn't have a mark on him, Majin Buu gawped briefly before glowering at dark-haired hybrid in cold fury.

"Yo, Majin Buu! Now that attack was better than the last one," Vegetto admitted. His shapely lips curved contemptuously as he added, "That actually kinda tickled that time!"

Majin Buu was really starting to lose his cool now. He didn't like being mocked at, especially in a scenario where he couldn't make the person mocking him meet an instant, ugly demise. Vegetto has come off of every attack Buu had thrown at him so far completely unharmed, and it was really starting to exasperate him.

After a moment, Buu took a calming breath to recover his composure. He then chalked up the reason he hadn't done any damage to his opponent yet was because he wasn't really trying all that hard and was just toying with the man. But once he did decide to get serious, he was going to have this Vegetto character begging for death by the time he was through with him.

Vegetto lifted a curious eyebrow when Buu suddenly flashed him a horrible smile.

"You know, I see what you're trying to do," said Buu, seeming to have reached some kind of realization. "You're trying to get me angry on purpose in hopes you can catch me off guard and attack. Well, you can just forget because I'm not falling for it!"

"I guess I'm going to have to come up with a whole new plan then," Vegetto replied sarcastically, pulling a mock-disappointed expression on his face.

"Joke while you still can! Once you split back up into Goku and Vegeta in thirty minutes, I'm going to kill them both, and as well as destroy this planet!" Majin Buu cackled triumphantly when he saw a brief look of fury cross Vegetto's feature as he apparently hadn't liked what the Majin had just said. Then, however, to Buu's surprise, Vegetto's angry expression melted away as he burst in laughter of his own.

"The joke is you my friend," Vegetto said, his voice full of a amusement.

"What? You think I'm a joke?" Majin Buu bellowed, starting to get annoyed again.

"Yes, you are a joke," Vegetto repeated scathingly, "you're a really big joke! Just so you know, you aren't facing another one of those normal Fusion fighters you've gone up against so far. See, unlike Juumara and Gotenji, I won't go away in thirty little minutes...I last forever. So that means, we're going to be playing together for a very long time...that is...until I finally decide to kill you."

Majin Buu looked briefly shocked at Vegetto's announcement. This Fusion before him lasts forever? There's just no way! It just has to be a lie! But if what Vegetto said was true, he might have to work a lot harder in fighting this newcomer than he'd originally planned on doing so. Although he wouldn't admit it aloud, he just barely escaped the wrath of Gotenji and Juumara as their thirty minutes had ran out before they could finish him off.

_*What in the world am I so worried about?*_ he scolded himself. *_Just because he won't go away in thirty minutes like Juumara and Gotenji shouldn't mean anything to me! Now that I have added Gohan's powers to mine, no one can touch me! Not even this Vegetto character!*_

"Say Majin Buu," Vegetto called. "Since you seemed to be done for right now, I think it's now my turn to have a crack at you! After all, it's only fair after you've fired energy blasts at me twice."

Majin Buu could only manage to stare wide-eyed at the Saiyajin merger, before he suddenly a hard fist being shoved harshly into his abdomen. He hadn't even seen his opponent move!

Vegetto had just striked the first blow. And it _hurt_.

* * *

Kibitoshin, Rou Kaioushin and Kosumo weren't the only ones watching the battle for the future of Chikyuu, and as well as the rest of the universe.

Over at Lord Enma's Enma Realm, the gigantic ogre, along with Baba and all of his oni workers, were observing it on a large movie screen. The reason behind that was, upon her swift arrival back to Other World, Baba had told the Lord of Judgment that Goku was alive again and was back on Earth helping Vegeta fight Majin Buu. When he'd first granted Vegeta permission to return to Earth to face Majin Buu, Lord Enma had been secretly worried about his decision. Granted, Vegeta was an extremely powerful warrior, but he was also a hothead who sometimes allowed his pride and his rage to get the better of him while he was in battle, which was why he'd been uncertain if it had been wise of him to trust the future of the entire universe in the Saiyajin Prince's hands. However, as soon as he heard Goku had joined the battle, and seeing as how he had finally gotten a break from having to sign in new arrivals- which had largely been due to Majin Buu- and then assign them to either Heaven or Hell, he had ordered his oni assistants that a screen be brought into the room immediately so that he could observe the proceedings of the battle happening back in the Living Realm. Feeling generous, he had even told his oni they could take a break and use their break time to watch the fight with him and Baba.

Something else that Lord Enma, or Baba for that matter, hadn't been expecting to see out of this fight had been the merging of Vegeta and Son Goku. Although they were still stunned that the prideful Vegeta had finally decided to join forces with his long-time rival, they were also very excited at the same time as the warrior born from their merger was absolutely amazing. With the merger of the two of the most powerful warriors in the universe, no one should've expected anything less. What was even more amazing was the fact that the Fusion, Vegetto as he had announced himself as, was matching Majin Buu move for move as they continued their fight. Though, Lord Enma and Baba had eager suspicions that Vegetto was actually a lot stronger than Majin Buu, as he hadn't even transformed into Super Saiyajin yet.

After all the havoc Majin Buu had been wreaking for the past couple of days, and all the lives he's taken, it finally seemed as if he had finally met his match in Vegetto. It seemed the universe would be saved after all.

However, as the Lord of Judgment, the fortune teller, and as well as all the oni crewmen were happy with that prospect, not everyone in the Other World was happy with it.

Down in Hell, right below them actually, several all-too familiar characters were observing the battle on a crystal ball. While everyone up above were rooting for the hero (heros?), these guys were rooting for the bad guy, seeing as how all of them were where they were now thanks to Goku, Vegeta, some of their comrades, and even some of their family members.

"How annoying!" Furiiza said irritably, glaring down at the image of Vegetto being projected on the crystal ball. "Just when you're about to exterminate those monkeys, they always find last minute miracles!"

"Tell me about it!" Cell agreed, sounding disgruntled as well. "I'm a result of one their inconvenient miracles!"

The last of Dr. Gero's Jinzouningen seethed quietly as he was reminded of his battle with the Z-Senshi. Though it had only been seven years since it had happened, it felt as if several centuries had passed by since his death. Everything had been going completely in his favor, after he had been able to finally absorb Juunana-gou and Juuhachi-gou to become Perfect...and then Gohan discovered the powers of Super Saiyajin Two. He didn't care what it took, but one of these days, he was going to pay the half-Saiyajin back for what he did to him. Then again, it seemed Majin Buu had taken that pleasure, as he and the other villains had witnessed Majin Buu absorbing the half-Saiyajin, and as well as Gotenji, Piccolo, and Juumara. Cell grinned at the memories; he really liked Majin Buu's style.

"Hey, let's not give up on Majin Buu so quickly," King Cold said primly. "After all, he's proven on several occasions now that he's quite admirably sneaky. I truly think he'll be the one to rid the universe of those filthy Saiyajin."

Furiiza's sour expression turned into dark glee at his father words.

"Well, as much as I should have that honor of wiping out the last of the Saiyajin," he said, "watching them be destroyed by this Majin Buu will be just as enjoyable. Right fellas?"

He directed that last comment over to the group of aliens dressed in armor similar to that of a Saiyajin's armor.

"Right, boss!" Captain Ginyuu and the rest of the Ginyuu Tokusentai shouted boisterously in agreement. Furiiza's prized warriors then went into a chorus of cheers: "Go, Majin Buu! Go, Majin Buu! Go, Majin Buu! Go, Majin Buu!"

"Hm. I wonder where Majin Buu came from," Cell said, still staring down at the crystal ball. "Dr. Gero apparently hadn't seen anything of his species before, otherwise I would have known what he was and where he came from."

"Well, I've certainly never heard of Majin Buu before she showed up, either," Furiiza said.

"So, you want to know about Majin Buu, do you?" asked a new voice. "Well, I can help you with that!"

Cell, Furiiza and his father immediately turned in the direction the voice came from, and so did Captian Ginyuu and his teams. Though, they were looking annoyed for having their cheering interrupted so rudely and abruptly. The deceased villains soon discovered who it was that had spoken to them, as they spotted a short, grinning figure standing atop of a rock formation beside them.

"Who are you?" demanded Cell, staring at the new arrival with an unimpressed expression.

The being's grin widened. "I am the son of the great Madoshi who created Majin Buu, Babidi!"

* * *

Majin Buu was slowly starting to run low in his rather overloaded supply of confidence and arrogance. Things were looking quite unfavorably for him at the moment. Although he had already expected some resistance from the newly born Vegetto, he hadn't expected THIS much. Vegetto was effortlessly matching him punch for punch, kick for kick, and ki blast for ki blast. His new foe had even took complete control over the battle on several occasions now, making him look like a complete fool. He was starting to wonder if maybe he had highly underestimated this fighter...and that maybe he was even stronger than him.

Of course, as soon as that thought entered his head, the demon instantly removed the thought from his mind. What was he thinking? No one in the entire universe was more powerful than Majin Buu! He still hadn't got serious yet, and that was why Vegetto kept getting the upper hand. However, during a moment where he had been forced to finally turn serious, after being thoroughly outclassed in hand-to-hand combat with the Saiyajin merger, he soon realized that that wasn't the case. He had lobbed a ki blast with the deadly intentions of taking both Vegetto and the planet out in one shot. Unfortunately for him, though, things didn't go the way he wanted again, when Vegetto had easily deflected the blast by literally kicking it off the planet. Then, to make the situation even more worse for him, Vegetto had decided to take things up another notch and transformed into a Super Saiyajin.

Now that made the Majin officially start to worry.

_*Stop that, dammit!*_ Majin Buu rebuked himself. *_You are not afraid of this crappy bastard! In fact, you're going to kill him! And once you do that, there will be nothing else get between you and the destruction of all life in the universe!*_

Majin Buu's mouth quirked in a wicked smirk at that thought. Yes, he liked that idea very much. He _was _going to kill Vegetto; and he _was _going to turn the universe into a endless graveyard. No matter how much effort the Saiyajin Fusion was putting into trying to defeat him, in the end it would all be for nothing, as he would be the victor of this fight when it was all said and done.

In front of him, Super Vegetto, as he had told Majin Buu to refer to him as after his transformation, grinned as he caught the demon's expression

"Hey, you're smirking. Why is that, I wonder? I mean, I know you can sense ki, and surely you've sense that compared to me now, you're just simply out of your league! Then again, with your brain being so pea-sized, I doubt it could even process that fact."

Majin Buu gritted his teeth in fury at the insult. Then, remarkably, he calmed himself back down, and smiled nastily at the Vegetto.

"How sad. You actually think you have this battle won," Majin Buu sneered. "Well, I'm afraid to tell you but this fight has just only truly started."

"Oh. Really?" the Fusion asked, tilting his head slightly and crossing his arms as he regarded Buu an amused look.

"Yes. You may have been lucky with prolonging your life so far, but not even the combined might of two Saiyajin, or even two Super Saiyajin for that matter, will be able to stop me," Majin Buu boasted. He chuckled horribly. "See, just as you had been doing, I haven't even used every arsenal in my disposal yet. Otherwise, you be dead now."

Super Vegetto's grin turned a shade crueller, when he said, "What, you mean your technique to turn me into candy, or the one where you absorb me and steal my powers like you've done my family and friend? Oh, some arsenal. Makes me get the urge to go find a bed to hide under!"

Majin Buu seethed visibly. There were so many insults a power-mad demon could stand...

Meanwhile, during the early course of Majin Buu and Vegetto's fight, they never noticed the audience of three that had arrived on their battleground a short while ago and were now observing the action from the safety behind some rocks. Dende had taken it upon himself to follow Goku and Majin Buu after they had left earlier, thinking that maybe if Goku got into a jam he could help him out by healing him if he needed it. Though, other than that, he didn't really know what help he, and especially the man standing beside him, could give Goku in his fight with Majin Buu. Mr. Satan hadn't even wanted to follow after Majin Buu, and who could blame the man. But with some encouragement, which was actually some flattery comments about how Goku might need the help of a great martial artist like himself, Mr. Satan had finally agreed to come.

However, soon after their arrival, the young deity had gotten quite a surprise. When they got there, they hadn't found Goku in battle with Majin Buu, but a man who resembled the Saiyajin, and also someone else he knew. Before they had even gotten there, Dende had distantly thought he had sensed Vegeta's ki reappear back onto the Earth, but had been too focused with catching up to Goku and Buu at that time that he hadn't tried to see if it was really true or not. Though, as soon as he saw what Majin Buu was facing now, he immediately knew it to be true. But what was even more shocking than Vegeta returning to life, was the fact that he'd actually joined powers with Goku. He had never thought he'd ever see that day.

_*With them joined together, there's no way Majin Buu can win now. I think Chikyuu will be just all right!*_ Dende thought happily.

Back in the air, Majin Buu had apparently had enough as he roared a battle cry and charged at Super Vegetto. The Saiyajin Fusion only grinned, not seeming worried in the least as the annoyed demon advanced on him rapidly. He continued to remain completely calm even as Majin Buu reached him and instantly unleashed a blitz of lightning fast punches and kicks at him. Though, as fast as Majin Buu was swinging at him, Vegetto was moving even faster, dodging each of Buu's blows with such ease it as almost embarrassing.

With a growl of fury, Majin Buu swung at Vegetto again, only for the Super Saiyajin Fusion to catch his arm with ease. Super Vegetto smirked cruelly, that Vegeta part of him thoroughly enjoying the stunned look he saw on Buu's face now.

"Hey, I think you were going for this," he offered.

Then Super Vegetto punched him. Majin Buu suddenly found the roles being reversed on him again, as his foe unleashed a violent torrent of offense on the Majin. Unlike how the commingled warrior had been able to dodge every blow Buu had dished out at him, the genie wasn't so lucky as each blow struck home with vicious precision. After several more minutes of this, Super Vegetto knocked Buu a short distance away with a dropkick. Majin Buu was left a bruised, distorted mess after the Saiyajin's assault on him; the left side of his face had been smashed inward, as well as the right side of his body, also his nose was bleeding, and the gi shirt he was wearing were ripped and torn in several places. Super Vegetto examined his handiwork with a cold grin.

"Now that my friend is how you're supposed to thrash someone," Vegetto informed him smugly.

Even in his severely battered state, Majin Buu managed to growl at the Fusion in fury.

"Why...you...I'll get you for this!" Buu vowed. Then, within a matter of a few moments, Majin Buu healed himself of all his bruises. Although, surprisingly, that had taken a lot more effort to do than Majin Buu cared to admit to anyone. In fact, he was visibly breathing with exertion, and that didn't go unnoticed by his opponent.

_*So, even his energy isn't definite as it was originally thought. Very interesting,*_ Super Vegetto mused, satisfied at his little discovery.

"Hey, Majin Buu?" he suddenly called. "Are you going to try and attack me again, or do you need more time to catch your breath?"

Buu looked extremely affronted by the merger's contemptuous words. He didn't care what it took, he would make Super Vegetto pay for each mockery of his great name.

"Well, apparently he chose the second option," Super Vegetto sighed, as Majin Buu abruptly lunged at him again. He then shrugged. "Oh, well, then. More fun for me." On that note, he went over to go meet the demon head on.

Over the next course of the fight, with each moment that past by, Majin Buu had began to grow increasingly aware of the fact that for the first time in all of a existence, he was up against a force that may be too much for even him to handle. Naturally, he hated that. He was just so used to always winning against any opponent he comes across, no matter the odds, that it was difficult for him to comprehend the idea of their being a very strong possibility that he could lose this battle against Super Vegetto.

Regular Vegetto had been more than a challenge for him already, but Super Vegetto was proving to be even more so. No matter what he tried against the powered-up warrior, nothing seemed to work. Every time Buu tried to attack his enemy, the Saiyajin would immediately retaliate against him with some kind of counterstrike move that would deal heavy damage. Majin Buu had fired ki blasts on Super Vegetto at point-blank range on several occasions now, unfortunately, though, none of them had any effect on the Fusion whatsoever; but when Super Vegetto fired a energy blast at him, no matter the range, it always left him battered and bruised messed, sometimes depriving him of some of his body limbs. It had grown to the point that Majin Buu had started to grow desperate, so in fact, that he once attempted to cause all the dimensions to bleed into one another all so he could crush Super Vegetto. Luckily, the Saiyajin Fusion had put a stop to that by managing to get into Buu's defenses and breaking his concentration by punching him in the jaw. Then, there was an instant where Majin Buu had liquefied and shot himself down Vegetto's throat to make him explode. To his utter shock, Super Vegetto had even found away to counter that move as well.

Now, Majin Buu was beginning to near his wits end. Nothing he did fazed Super Vegetto, yet everything the Saiyajin Fusion did to him did faze him. What could he do to turn all of this around?

He then had to listen to more of Vegetto's boasting.

"So, are you going to continue trying to fight me? Or have finally read the writing on the wall, Buu?" Super Vegetto asked. "You can't beat me. And basically, in other words, that means you're finished!"

Majin Buu clenched his teeth at the Fusion in rage. *_That stupid nitwit! I'll never surrender to him! There just has to be some way for me to kill this guy, so I can shut up him- wait just a second!* _An imperceptible grin touched Buu's lips as a thought came to him. *_Yes, it would seem there may be a way for me to get rid of this punk once and for all. *_

"All right, blondie! Come get me! Majin Buu challenged.

"Huh?" Vegetto replid, surprised by the Majin's sudden boldness.

"You I could utterly crush you!" Majin Buu added

Super Vegetto narrowed his eyes on Buu suspiciously. *_Now what exactly is he up to?*_

"What's wrong? Are you chicken?"

Super Vegetto's mouth then set in a grim line. He still didn't know what Buu was thinking, but apparently he's pummeled him so much that the demon still actually thinks he has a chance against him. Well, then, he'd be more than happy to oblige him.

Majin Buu beckoned Super Vegetto even closer to him with his hand. Privately, he said, *_That's right you chump! Just a little bit more! A little bit further...* _

Super Vegetto moved even closer then. He grinned. "All right. Let's end this time, right now!"

Majin Buu broke out in a malicious grin as he replied, "Do you like coffee candy?"

"Huh?" Super Vegetto replied, completely taken off guard.

That was exactly what Buu wanted, for while Vegetto was still trying to digest what he'd just said, Majin Buu fired a Henka Beam at the Saiyajin Fusion. Vegetto let out a brief scream as he was engulfed by the beam, then, right before the eyes of all who were watching the battle, the last hope for the survival of planet Earth had been transformed into a small coffee candy drop.

"Oh, no! Goku and Vegeta," Dende murmured in dismay.

"I can't believe it! He actually turned that guy into candy!" Mr. Satan was saying beside him, just as aghast as the young Kami was. Bee was barking his disapproval of the whole thing beside him.

Pride and triumph surged through Majin Buu as he snatched up his trophy prize. As he stared down at the candy drop that just been one of his most formidable of opponents, remembering all his taunts and boasts, all those chances Vegetto had had to actually take him out, Buu started cackling wickedly before erupting in full-blown sadistic laughter.

"Yes, yes, yes! I did it!" he roared in victory. "Majin Buu! Big bad Buu! Take that you suckers! I told you I'd win, and I have! You said I was cooked once earlier, but now look who's been turned into food- junk food, that is! Now you two pests are out of my way, absolutely nothing can stop me now!"

Majin Buu bellowed with laughter again, clenching his hand that held the candy drop into a fist. Life was so good. He'd overcome an irritatingly powerful foe, and now he could get back to doing what he did best, and that was destroying people and their planets. Nothing could definitely top this.

However, as Majin Buu was so engrossed in his boasting, he never noticed something strange happening to his clenched fist. It started to slowly extend back out, as if it had a life of its own.

"Huh?" Buu said a moment later, when he finally did see this. He frowned in confusion. "What in the-"

His sentence was interrupted as he _punched _himself right in the face. Majin Buu let out a cry of pain, unintentionally dropping the candy drop as he brought his hands to his throbbing face. Had he been able to see at the moment, he would saw something even stranger occur just then; before the candy drop could hit the ground, it suddenly began to rise back up into the air, stopping when it reached Buu's air level.

Then the candy drop actually spoke.

"Hey, you really shouldn't hit yourself like that?" it advised.

Everybody who was observing the fight stared in shock, unable to comprehend that a piece of candy was actually speaking. Majin Buu was even more so, as the candy drop hovered before him under its own power. What was going on here?

"This... is...i-impossible!" Buu stammered. "You shouldn't be able to speak or move. You should be lifeless just like regular candy is!"

"Well, looks like you're wrong again my friend," Vegetto told him, speaking in a comical voice that suggested he'd been given too much helium due to his current form. "In fact, I can do a whole lot more than this. Despite your attack on me, I've still retained all of my powers!" Putting his words into action, Vegetto the Candy Drop started moving in lightning fast, zigzag motions. It was a display that disturbed the demon even more than he already was.

"And just to let you know, I'm not your typical candy! I'm a jawbreaker, the strongest candy in the universe!" Vegetto said. "So, what will you do now?"

As shook up as Majin Buu was about his Henka Beam seeming to have proven ineffective against his enigmatic foe, he drew the line when a piece of candy started yelling out threats at him.

Grinning coldly, Buu said, "I think it's time I ate you already, so I won't have to listen to you anymore!"

"Still talking about food, huh? Well, try this on for size!" Vegetto replied. Then, faster than Majin Buu could anticipate, his candy-turned foe rushed him and rammed into his chest hard, actually knocking the air from the Majin's lungs. As Buu doubled over, Vegetto leaped up and smashed into the genie's chin, further stunning him. That left him with even more opening, as he arced up into the air and came down hard on Majin Buu's face, knocking his head literally inside his body. Majin Buu was sent smashing into the hard-packed earth of one of the islands below.

"I told him to give up," the Vegetto candy said, while he hovered in midair waiting for Buu to make his reappearance. "But that's the problem with villains. They just never learn."

In the next instant, Majin Buu exploded out of the rubble, and made a furious beeline towards the candy drop. Buu swung angrily at the candy drop upon reaching him, only to miss. He swung at the candy drop again and again, but still missed. It made a very amusing picture as Majin Buu continued to swing wildly, and with his opponent being so tiny now, it almost looked as if he was fighting someone invisible. When Buu finally gave up, he panted heavily from exhaustion, meanwhile his enemy continued to hover over him, waiting for his next move. Majin Buu glowered at the candy furiously.

_*Dammit! Even as a piece of candy, he's annoying!*_ he mused angrily.

Vegetto charged the genie again, bouncing off the arm Buu had tried to block him with like a springboard, then arced downward to smash himself into Buu's right knee cap, and finally bounced back upward to strike Majin Buu in the temple. However, as soon as he did so, Majin Buu swiftly reached out and grabbed a hold of his annoying, zippy enemy.

"It's chow time, sweetie!" he announced, then promptly tried to place the candy in his mouth.

Instead, he found himself washing his own mouth out with his fist under Vegetto's control. After finally managing to remove his fist from his throat, the Vegetto candy escaped his grasp and went on the attack again. Just like in his normal form, Vegetto was very relentless as a candy, striking Majin Buu swiftly and viciously.

"Will you stop that?" Majin Buu complained. "Fight me like a man, already!"

"Hey, pal! In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly a man anymore!" As soon as Vegetto said that, he rushed forward and went straight into Buu's mouth, where he burst through the back of his neck, slicing off Buu's forelock at the same time.

Majin Buu howled in pain, grasping his mouth. Meanwhile, his head tentacle landed amidst some unforgiving rocks. As Majin Buu was trying to recover, the Vegetto candy drop chuckled down at him.

"Hey, what's wrong Buu? I thought you wanted to eat me?" the candy drop taunted.

_*That does it! Enough of this!*_ Majin Buu thought in angry resignation. Straightening himself, Majin Buu then strained himself in concentration to regenerate his forelock, and as well as seal in the hole on the back of his neck.

Spinning around, seeing that he had no other choice, Majin Buu fired another beam at Vegetto with his newly restored head tentacle. As Vegetto was struck by the blast again, instead of doing even more harm to his form, it transformed him back into his original form.

"Wha? Mommy! Huh?" Vegetto said, staring at himself in shock.

While he was trying to get himself readjusted to having a full real body, Majin Buu glared coldly at him. *_So, not even transforming this guy into candy will work? I can see right now that it's going to take something more to kill him, and I will kill him!*_

* * *

"Whew! It's a good thing I'm already dead, or I'd probably just die from a heart attack right then!" Rou Kaioushin said, wiping a bead of sweat off his face in relief.

Kibitoshin and Kosumo quietly shared the older god's sentiments. Rou Kaioushin then glowered at the crystal ball.

"That fool! What does he think he's doing? He almost ruined everything!" he complained.

"Apparently, Vegeta has a little too much influence on the way Vegetto thinks, Grand Kaioushin-sama," Kosumo remarked.

"Still, what is Vegetto waiting for?" Kibitoshin wondered, frowning a bit. "He can kill Majin Buu at any time, yet he keeps insisting on foolishly toying around with Majin Buu."

"Bah! This damned younger generation!" Rou Kaioushin said in disgust. "Back in my day, whenever someone was in battle for the safety of the universe, you killed the enemy when given the opportunity, not play around with him!"

"I see no reason to get worried just yet, honorable ancestor," Kibitoshin said. "After all, we've seen it with our own eyes that Majin Buu is just no match for Vegetto. He can't even lay a finger on him!" he added with surprising enthusiasm.

"That means nothing!" Rou Kaioushin countered, shooting his descendant a withering look. "As long as that demon lives, the entire physical universe is still in grave danger."

"Oh," Kibitoshin said, looking chagrined. "Perhaps you do have a point. It's just that I've been dreading Majin Buu for all these years, that it's still hard to believe that Majin Buu actually can be destroyed."

"That is, if that idiot Vegetto stops horsing around down there, and finishes him off already!" Rou Kaioushin snorted, crossing his arms as he glared down at the image of Vegetto on the crystal ball, watching as the Fusion had just blasted the Majin into smithereens with a strong energy blast, though no strong enough to finish Majin Buu off for good the elderly god knew. Rou Kaioushin scowled at the Saiyajin Fusion.

_*Bah, the younger generation!*_ he said again, though to himself this time. *_Apparently they were all absent that day common sense was being handed out!*_

* * *

"Are you quite finished yet?" Vegetto asked, his dual voice dripping with utter contempt. He was talking to Majin Buu, of course- well, actually he was directing the question at remains from Majin Buu, courtesy of a strong ki blast Vegetto had fired at him just a few minutes ago.

A moment later, all the blobs started to stir, and then, in a blink of an eye, all the blobs transformed into several Majin Buu heads. And all of them were glaring at Vegetto in equal amounts of rage and hatred.

"Damn you! Damn you to hell you rotten piece of crab!" all the Buu heads barked furiously at the Saiyajin.

Vegetto sneered at the demon and crossed his arms. "Oh, quit your whining, and pull yourself back together again. You're almost a lot less embarrassing that way. Almost that is."

Even as the Buu heads gritted their teeth irately at the merger, all the heads then dove into each other, becoming one again. After a minute of this, Majin Buu finally reconstructed himself, looking like new once again. The demon's face was still crossed fury as he glowered at Vegetto, panting in both exertion and anger; he was even more furious at the fact that every time Vegetto did heavy damage to him, he had to use even more energy than the last time just to heal himself. He didn't like that one bit. Regenerating his wounds normally came easier to him, just like breathing. But for him to have to put more effort into healing himself after every time he's hurt, then something must seriously be wrong. Meanwhile, Vegetto continued to remain calm and composed, still wearing that sneer on his face.

"So, are you going to try and attack me again?" Vegetto asked mockingly. "Or are you going to finally realize that you can't win, and just surrender?"

"You worm! I'll never give into you!" Majin Buu snapped, getting so angry that veins were bulging on both sides of his forehead.

"Fine by me, then," Vegetto answered with a shrug. Grinning, he added, "I wouldn't mind continuing to use you as a punching bag!"

Majin Buu bristled with rage. "Why, you...how dare you!" he snarled. "You have the audacity to laugh at Buu! Buu is not some form of entertainment for you! Buu will show you why he is called the terror of the universe!"

Then Majin Buu went on the attack again, as he abruptly unleashed another salvo of ki blasts on Vegetto. Shaking his head a bit in mingled annoyance and disdain, even as he avoided each of Majin Buu's energy blasts, Vegetto decided it was time to put a stop to this. Moving with lightning quick speed, Vegetto got completely inside Buu's defenses and rammed his knee hard into his gut, crudely interrupting Buu's wild attack. While the demonic fighter was stunned, he then dealt him a roundhouse kick to the side of his head, sending him flipping through the air. Quickly, Buu stopped himself and tried to go attack Vegetto again, only to be struck yet again with a powerful ki blast.

When all the smoke and light vanished, Vegetto lowered his hand, wearing a satisfied cold grin as he took a look of his handiwork. Majin Buu now floated in midair, howling in pain, his lower body gone as it had been completely blasted off. Mercilessly, Vegetto took full advantage of the situation. Leaping high into the air, he came back down in a arc smashed a clasped fisted punch into Majin Buu's face. As Majin Buu was making an unwanted beeline towards the unforgiving ground, Vegetto met him before he could halfway, and spinning back kicked him. Though, before he could get very far, Vegetto swiftly reached out and grabbed a hold of Buu's long head tentacle.

"Now don't start going apart on me now, Buu," Vegetto taunted, sneering aggressively. "Is this how you want us to end our fight? So much for the most powerful being in the universe!"

"You talk too much," Buu shot back, smiling nastily as he raised his hand point-blank at Vegetto's face. Vegetto's taunting had given him an opening, and he wasn't about to let this chance get away from him.

The audience of three down below hadn't missed it when Majin Buu surprised Vegetto with a ki blast. Smoke quickly encompassed the warrior.

"Goku-san! Vegeta-san!" Dende said dismayingly.

"That sure doesn't look good," Mr. Satan thought.

In the next instant, when the smoke in the air vanished, as did the smug expression on Majin Buu's face when Vegetto reappeared, unscathed. However, his teal eyes were ablaze with cold anger as he stared at Majin Buu. He then released the forelock, but before Buu could hit the ground, Vegetto fired another ki blast at Buu that struck him on target, carrying him a few feet away before exploding. When Majin Buu reappeared a few moments later, he was looking extremely worse of wear now; besides his lower body still missing from his upper body, but his head tentacle and as well as his left arm were missing, plus he had a large gaping hole now decorating his chest, and his gi shirt was severely burnt.

_*T-this is impossible!*_ Majin Buu thought wildly._ *He shouldn't be able to keep doing this to me! I'm Majin Buu, dammit!*_

As he was trying to rally himself, Vegetto abruptly appeared before him. Majin Buu glared at him in hatred and defiance, while he began to rebuild his body again. A moment later, he was whole again, though breathing a little bit harder than the last time he had to heal himself. He then flashed Vegetto a nasty grin. However, Vegetto was grinning back at him for some reason.

"That didn't hurt!" Majin Buu said. "That didn't hurt at all!"

"Yeah, if you say so," Vegetto countered, looking unaccountably amused at the moment.

"What?" Majin Buu said. He then glanced down at himself, and his expression instantly melted into shock when he saw the hole that had been dented into his body from the last blast still hadn't been healed yet. "What? Grrr...damn you!"

Vegetto chuckled. "Hey, well at least there's one good thing about this," he said. "At least you won't have to worry about those painful punches to the gut anymore."

For a brief moment, Majin Buu glowered at Vegetto in cold rage. Then, clenching his fists and tensing his body, pink bolts of lightning crackled around his body as he healed his wound completely this time, and as well as sealing up the hole in the shirt he stole from Gohan. Majin Buu then fixed an irate stare back onto Vegetto; it was ridiculous the way the Saiyajin Fusion kept humiliating him time after time again. He didn't know what it was going to take, but he would find a way to make him pay for every insult.

Vegetto suddenly brought a hand to his mouth to stifle a yawn.

"Sorry to tell you this Majin Buu, but this fight is really starting to get on the dull side," he said. "So, I'm going to end things right now."

Majin Buu gave Vegetto a disbelieving stare, while the Fusion started to circle around him slowly, like a shark circling its prey. The demon couldn't get over the Fusion's gall to speak about destroying him as casually as someone would if they were commenting on the weather.

"Bastard! If you think killing me will be so simple, then you're a lot dumber than I first-" Majin Buu was rudely interrupted by another ki blast being fired into his mouth.

"No, Buu! You're the dumb one!" Vegetto informed him, sounding serious this time. "Are you truly that blinded by your power, to see that you're completely outclassed? You've been beaten. There's no way you can win this time!"

Majin Buu bared his teeth in anger at Vegetto; that ki blast had left more than a bad taste in his mouth, but as well as a harsh blow to his pride.

All of a sudden, Vegetto raised both his hands. Majin Buu immediately tensed, thinking wildly for a second that Vegetto actually was going to go through with finishing him off...

_*As if he really could!*_ Majin Buu thought rebelliously, though even to him it sounded as if he was trying to inject a lot of confidence into that thought.

"Hey, Majin Buu," he called. "10...I'm giving you to the count of 10 before I settle this once and for all. Say a prayer, get something to eat, whatever you wanna do. Here I go. One!...Two...!"

Majin Buu stiffened at Vegetto's words, gazing at him in disbelief. Buu briefly found himself suffering a feeling of deja-vu, as he quite clearly remembering saying something of the same line to Goku before Vegeta returned to Earth. No, no, this just couldn't be! This just couldn't be right! He just couldn't be defeated by some stupid earthlings! This just couldn't be happening!

"But you know, Buu," Vegetto said, grinning horribly, "if you'd like, you can charge me right now. Please do so. I definitely wouldn't mind."

Majin Buu let out a grunt of defiance, as he glowered up at the Saiyajin merger in anger. He couldn't get over the Fusion's gall that he was actually taunting him, and that in itself was more irritating than the mere fact he couldn't seem to do anything to shut Vegetto's mouth once and for all.

"Three!...Four...!"

_*There's just got to be some way to kill to guy, *_Buu thought. *_After that idiot Bibidi trapped me inside that accursed egg for eons, I'm not about to be brought down by these two wretches! I will persevere! But the question is how? As much as I hate to admit, Vegetto's a lot more powerful than I am. If I don't do something fast, he really will kill me!*_

"Five!...Six...!"

As Majin Buu suddenly looked downward, he was secretly surprised when he found his old detached head tentacle lying inoffensively on the ground below. Being so preoccupied with his battle with Vegetto, he'd forgotten all about it. But now that he'd discovered it again, silver lining had suddenly seemed to find its way through the dark cloud that had been hovering over his head during this whole fight against the Saiyajin fusion. He was even more delighted when he saw his detached head tentacle briefly shudder.

_*Yes, that's it, my head tentacle,*_ he mused. *_Now, if I can do this just right, I have more power than I've ever imagined.*_

"Seven!"

Briefly and imperceptibly checking to see that Vegetto's eyes were fixed completely on him, Majin Buu then secretly glanced back at his forelock. The silent message he then sent to it, was immediately answered, as the forelock rolled up into a glob, and started to rise up into the air. Majin Buu's mouth curled into a wicked grin_. *Heh. Vegetto is about to learn that no one toy with Majin Buu or hurt him and gets away with it.*_

Unbeknownst to Majin Buu, Vegetto had already foreseen him to try and use this ploy. Even now, he could see the fragment rising stealthily and slowly into the air behind him. *_Just exactly what I wanted."_

"Eight!...Nine...!*

_*Here goes nothing,* _Vegetto thought earnestly, as he sensed the fragment directly behind him right now, preparing to capture him. Aloud he said, "10! Say goodbye, Majin Buu!"

Majin Buu's mouth curved into wide grin at the irony behind the Fusion's words. At the same time, the glob that had once been his head tentacle was floating directly behind his cocky foe.

"Okay, then, Vegetto," he said slowly. "Goodbye, you FOOL!"

Vegetto feigned an expression of surprise when the large wall of pink blob rose up and came crashing down.

"BARRIER!" he called out quickly, before the glob enclosed around him entirely. Though as it did, Vegetto flared his power around himself. He struggled to get free, but just like when his sons and his wife and sister and Piccolo had tried, it was futile. The blob had then constricted, entrapping the last hope planet Earth and the rest of the universe had a long, lasting life.

While all the spectators looked on in either horror or dismay or even joy, Majin Buu let out a howl of victory as the glob containing Vegetto soared through the air towards him. Once it had reached the Majin, it elongated over the villain and proceeded to swallow him whole.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	58. Stuck In Buu With You

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ or the characters. I just own the original characters in this story. **

**Chapter Fifty-Eight: Stuck in Buu With You**

* * *

Buu was still reveling in his greatest victory over his toughest adversary to ever come into existence. Right now, Majin Buu truly felt unstoppable. After all that boasting Vegetto had done...after all the times Vegetto could have actually finished him off with ease...it was Buu who had won in the end, while his seemingly unbeatable opponent had become yet another victim of his sneaky cunningness. And it was all because Vegetto wanted to toy with him.

"Hmph! That's what that cocky bastard gets for underestimating me!" he gloated.

Down below, Dende and Mr. Satan and even poor Bee wished more than ever that they could be somewhere else faraway.

The Majin whooped some more in joy as he took off, flying around the world without a care at all, destroying everything in his path. He did so because he knew could.

In no time at all, Buu returned from where he fought Vegetto, however, while doing so the demon finally starting to become aware of something strange. Despite absorbing the fused Saiyajin, there was no change in him at all; it was like Juumara all over again. Buu briefly pondered that, then he pushed the whole matter from his mind, deciding that it was of no difference to him. The important thing was that Vegetto was absorbed by him, which mean he truly had no peer in all of existence.

He had always saw himself as a god, but now that feeling was magnified multifold. No one could stop him now.

No one.

* * *

The image of Buu braying his victorious laughing while he took off again was captured on Rou Kaioushin's crystal ball. Kibitoshin's normally pale skin had turned paler after witnessing the demise of their last line of defense against his mortal enemy. Kosumo only quietly shook her head in consternation. But strangely, though, Rou Kaioushin was staring into the crystal ball with a very calm yet thoughtful expression, in spite of how even more unpromising the situation had gotten.

"I-I don't believe this!" the Kibitoshin cried in dreadful disbelief. "Vegetto-that pompous fool! He had all the chances he needed to defeat Majin Buu, but instead he kept playing around with him, and now look what happened! He ended up getting himself sucked in by Buu, and now Majin Buu truly is the most powerful thing in the entire universe...It's over for everybody..." As he screamed those final words, Kibitoshin dropped to his knees on the grassy ground and pounded his fists on a small, empty patch of earth in frustration.

Kosumo observed Kibitoshin in silent sympathy, understanding his feelings only too well. Beside him, Rou Kaioushin snorted at his descendant, not believing the way that he- a Kaioushin- was behaving.

"Are you quite finished yet?" he asked reproachfully.

"W-what?" Kibitoshin replied, lifting his head to look over at his forebear. The younger god frowned faintly when he finally saw his elder's unruffled expression. "How in the world could you look so calm about all of this! You know as well as I do that Majin Buu could very well destroy everything in the universe now!"

"Well, maybe if you'd stop overreacting, you'd see just why I'm so calm," replied Rou Kaioushin engimatically, wearing a just as engimatic small smile on his face.

"Overreacting?" Kibitoshin repeated, eyes widening.

"What do you mean, Grand Kaioushin-sama?" Kosmo asked inquistively.

"Come take a closer look at Majin Buu." Both the current Kaioushin and the Guardian of Cosmos obliged. "Don't you two find something odd about him after he's absorbed Vegetto?"

Briefly, Kibitoshin and Kosumo exchanged brief looks of confusion, before doing as they were told. The two studied the picture of Majin Buu on the crystal ball carefully as instructed. At first, the two couldn't discern any differences about the demon; he still looked the same as he had when they saw him a moment ago. He was still garbed in those white pants, still those yellow boots, and he was still wearing the shirt he had inherited from Gohan. It was then that the two deities gasped together as realization of what Rou Kaioushin was trying to tell them had finally sunk in.

"Hey, Majin Buu hasn't changed!" Kibitoshin exclaimed, getting a nod of approval from his ancestor. "Normally when he incorporates his victims into his body, he gains some of their characteristics. For instance, the clothing they wear."

Rou Kaioushin nodded in confirmation. "Mm-hm. Exactly."

"This would also explain why we have never seen Majin Buu take on any of Juumara's traits," Kosumo added. "Or even perform any of her attacks."

The two then looked at each other again, their eyes widening with dawning recognition.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kibitoshin asked, grinning.

Kosumo nodded. "Yes. Both Vegetto and Juumara- or rather Juuhachi-gou-san and Amara-san- may still well be very much alive somewhere inside Majin Buu!"

"So, we still have a chance after all!" Kibitoshin said.

"Hm. Let's check in on this," Rou Kaioushin suggested. With a gesture of his hand, pale blue light flared up around the crystal ball, blotting out the image of Majin Buu momentarily. When the lights had at last vanished, Kibitoshin and Kosumo found themselves looking at what appeared to be the innards of someone's body- Buu's they knew right away. The two were very relieved when the image of Vegetto reappeared on the orb, wrapped up securely in a fiery shield of white ki.

However, no one in the Kaioushin Realm expected to see what they saw next. As soon as Vegetto lowered his barrier, his body was momentarily engulfed in bright light-

-and then he separated back into Vegeta and Goku.

* * *

Inside the body of Buu, Goku and Vegeta were gawping at one another in surprise and confusion. Neither had never expected to see each other again, especially when the Fusion they had performed supposedly was to have lasted forever. But somehow they were both their own individual selves again.

"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed, shocked. "What are you doing standing over there?"

"How should I know, Kakarott?" Vegeta retorted. "You're the one who said that this stupid Fusion was to be permanent!"

"Well, that's what Grandpa Kaioushin had said, anyway," Goku replied, looking sheepish.

Goku was about to say something else, however, was interrupted by the sound of Majin Buu's laughing. The younger Saiyajin's childly expression turned into a rare mask of annoyance as the Majin's laughter revertebrated aggravatingly off the walls of his body.

"He sounds more annoying than he did while we were out there with him!" Goku said, irritated.

"Well, let's not stand here all day listening to him," Vegeta said gruffly, though silently sharing his rival's sentiments. "If you remember, we have to find the others. That is why we allowed ourselves to get absorbed in the first place."

"Don't worry, Vegeta, I didn't forget," Goku assured him.

Vegeta looked around at his surroundings, his habitual scowl hardening slightly. "Somewhere in here, Juuhachi-gou and Amara are also walking around freely. Like us, they were able to avoid being absorbed by Majin Buu. I saw it before I came back to Earth."

"Really?" Goku asked, surprised. He grinned. "That's great! They must've had the same idea as we did."

Goku's expression turned into puzzlement, when Vegeta suddenly unfastened his Potara off his ear.

"Hey, Vegeta? What are you doing?" he inquired curiously. He grew even more inquistive as the Prince just held the Potara in his right hand, giving it a speculative look. "I think you should put that back on. We're going to need Vegetto again once we get out of this place."

Hearing him, Vegeta looked up at the younger man impassively. Goku knew right then that he should've known something bad was about to happen, for in the next moment, that cruel smirk he's seen the Prince don countless times reappeared. Vegeta extended out the hand that held his Potara towards Goku, as if he wanted him to get a better look at it. Vegeta did- Goku's last look at the enchanted piece of jewelry- for in a blink of an eye, he clenched his hand around the Earring hard into a fist. Goku let out a noise of dismay when he heard the baleful sound of something being crushed into pieces. He echoed the sound even louder when his suspicion was confirmed by Vegeta reopening his hand and carelessly letting the remains of the Potara spill to the ground.

"Vegeta! Are you crazy?" Goku exclaimed in shock. "Do you realize what you've just done? Now we can't fuse into Vegetto anymore!"

"But that's the whole idea, genius," Vegeta revealed, still wearing that smirk on his face. "Now that it's been proven that the Kaioushin's little Fusion trick isn't so _permanent_, I'm going to take this chance to keep my individuality, thank you."

Goku let out a grunt that was mixed between pleading and annoyance. "Vegeta, don't be a fool. You know as well as I do that we can't defeat Majin Buu like this. Isn't us being stuck together forever worth it, if we can stop Majin Buu and save the Earth?"

"Hell no!" Vegeta answered, his expression turning cold. "I refuse spending the rest of my life merged with you!" What he didn't say out loud, was that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life sharing Juuhachi-gou and Koji with him, or Kakarott sharing Chichi, Gohan, and Goten with him. He much preferred the one family that he already had.

"But, Vegeta-" Goku started to protest.

"I said forget it!" the Prince firmly cut him off. "Besides which, we don't really need Vegetto to destroy Majin Buu."

"And just how do you know that, huh?" Goku shot back. "Even if we do find the others down here, how do you know that all of us working together will still be enough to defeat Majin Buu?"

Vegeta smirked again. "Well, then. I guess there's only one way for us to find out."

On that note, he promptly spun around and walked off. Goku blinked at the Prince's retreating form in puzzlement.

"Hey, where are you going Vegeta?" he called.

"I'm going to go find the others," Vegeta answered simply. "You can stand here all day looking stupid if you want, but I'm going to do something much more productive with my time in here. After all, Buu could blow away the Earth at any time."

Goku looked exasparated by Vegeta's words. It wasn't because of the other man insulting him (he was quite used to that by now), but largely from being hit with the realization that no matter what he said, Vegeta wasn't going to fuse with him again- at least that way. Seeing that he really had no other choice, he reluctantly took off his own Potara and crushed it in his hand, just as Vegeta had done just a few moments ago.

"I sure hope you're right about this, Vegeta," he muttered grimly. He then broke off into a jog after the Prince, dropping the remanents of the Potara Earring along the way.

It didn't really take long for Goku to catch up to Vegeta. The two were now walking across a path of some kind; the new area they had entered was a lot darker than the one they'd just been in previously. A variety of veins and pumping organs could be seen here and there as they further traversed the shelf. Also, the air in this part of Buu's body was just positively foul, making it a wonder why neither of the Saiyajin hadn't been nauseated to the point of vomiting.

"Man, this is one nasty place!" Goku finally complained, breaking the lengthy silence between him and Vegeta. He was unable to keep his opinion to himself.

"Thanks for pointing that out to me," Vegeta said with dry sarcasm. "What did you expect? We're inside the body of a living person."

"It really does stinks down here, though," Goku added, ignoring the tone in his teammate's voice. The younger looked very disgusted right now. "I think we might be getting closer to the bowels or something."

Up ahead, Vegeta ignored him as something was starting to irritate him. He was actually well-educated about a person's anatomy, but he couldn't make out where he and his rival were heading to. Another thing that disturbed him was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sense any of the others.

Not watching where he was going, he took a wrong step as his foot came down on an extremely wet part of the ledge...and now it was also trying pull him downward.

"What in the hell?" Vegeta bellowed, more out of annoyance than panic. He struggled to get free from whatever it was that had entrapped him, only to get himself dragged down further.

"No! Vegeta!" Goku yelled upon noticing what was happening to his teammate. Immediately, he rushed over to help Vegeta out, even if he didn't ask for it or not. However, the only thing he ended up doing was getting himself in the same predicament Vegeta was in, as he too became trapped by the strange gunk. And the harder he and Vegeta continually attempted to pull themselves free, the more they kept sinking and sinking and sinking, until they were completely pulled all the way down.

Some time later, by some stroke of luck, both Vegeta and Goku were still in one piece and still continuing their journey deeper into Buu's viscera. Earlier, when they had fallen through the gunk, the two had found themselves directly in the Majin's stomach. Unfortunately for them, that place was no safer than the last one, as they were put in immediate danger of being disgested. With his quick and uncaring thinking, Vegeta had blasted both him and Goku a "door" and it thankfully led them out of their predicament...and straight into another one.

In the new area they landed in, they had to do battle with the proteins inside Majin Buu body, which had been especially attracted to Goku some reason; they also had to contend with monsterous, wormlike enzymes, much to the dismay of Vegeta who showed a humorously shocking display of scoleciphobia toward them. However, to their surprise, what looked like fearsome beasts turned out to be cowardly crybabies, and that they also had a Poppa. In spite of everything, though, their encounter with the creatures hadn't been a complete waste of time. In fact, it was because of that meeting that the warriors managed to obtain some very valuable information...

_Vegeta and Goku looked identically nonplused after the Poppa worm struck Big Brother worm across the head, reprimanding him for leaving the herd. Poppa worm drew up in front of the Saiyajin. _

_"Um, has this boy committed any misdeed?" he asked. _

_"Misdeeds?" Goku repeated. Beside him, Vegeta was literally blue in the face. _

_"Just one step closer, and I'll kill him...!" the prince growled to himself. _

_"You see, this boy has the bad habit of taking off after anything he sees moving," Poppa explained. "A while ago, a similiar incident occurred when a couple of women were passing through."_

_Instantly, both men looked alert after hearing the last part of that sentence. _

_"Did you just say two women passed through here?" Vegeta demanded with a sudden eagerness in his voice._

_"Hey, did one of them have blonde hair and blue eyes, and the other black hair and black eyes?" Goku iniqured. _

_Big Brother nodded. "Mm-hmm. That's them all right." _

_"So, Amara and Juuhachi-gou have been through here," Vegeta said. _

_"Ah, that's right!" Goku said, remembering something. "Did anyone else come this way as well? They're dressed like us." _

_"Yeah, we know the ones you mean!" answered the younger worm child him and his sibling moved closer, and Vegeta quickly backpedaled. _

_"There was also a green one!" Big Brother piped up. _

_"He must mean Piccolo," Goku realized. He smiled. "Say, could you tell us where they went?" _

_Both worm siblings pointed towards the dark space above them. _

_"Just like we told those women, we saw all those guys you asked go up above," Big Brother explained. _

_"Yeah, up above!" the younger worm echoed. _

And that's what had put the two warriors down the new path they were on now. For the first time since they entered Buu, things seemed to finally be looking for them, because now they roughly knew which way their family and friends had went in. The downside to this, however, was that the worms had both failed to warn the two of just how lengthy the passageway was. It seemed like they've been walking for several miles now. At some intervals in the passage, the 'ground' sometimes angled off to the left or to the right, and the Saiyajin had no other choice but to follow along.

Just as soon as Goku and Vegeta had rounded a corner, their battle instincts were triggered by an abrupt sense of danger. It happened almost a millisecond too late, as a fist aimed toward Vegeta's face with the intent of punching it completely off his shoulders; simultaneously, a blade of ki struck out at Goku. However, it was only when the fist and blade got a hairsbreath of their faces when they came to a complete stop, the people on the other side of them gasping in surprise as they realized who it was.

"V-Vegeta!"

"Juuhachi-gou!"

"Amara?"

"Kakarott!" Amara then gawped at her brother. "Vegeta!"

After registering who each other were, Juuhachi-gou lowered her fist and Amara retracted her Energy Sword. Everyone relaxed, more or less.

Beside Goku, Vegeta's attention was intensely riveted on Juuhachi-gou. Though his expression was still fixed in that habitual, stony scowl of his, if one could look inside the Saiyajin no Ouji, then they would've knew just how glad he was to see his beautiful wife again. But Juuhachi-gou averted her gaze from him, not knowing how to react with the sudden reappearance of her dead husband.

"Oh, so that's why we sensed your kis earlier," Amara was saying moments later, after her brother and Goku explained to them how could they be there when they were both supposed to be dead. "Enma Daio gave Vegeta the same deal he gave Kakarott the other day, and Kakarott here was given his life back by this Grand Kaioushin person."

"When we heard you approach," Juuhachi-gou began, "we thought Buu had caught on to us and sent some sort of bodily defense after us."

"Say, just how did you two avoid not being absorbed?" Goku inquired. "When Vegeta and I were fused together as Vegetto, we let Buu absorb us on purpose and used a barrier to protect us."

"Well, we didn't use a barrier, but..." Juuhachi-gou replied, "...when Majin Buu reappeared in front of us wanting to face Juumara and Gotenji, instead of Gohan, Amara and I immediately knew that he was up to something. As soon as that blob thing enclosed aroud Juumara, at the last second, she transfigured her body into water to escape assimiliation. However, as soon as she returned back to normal once inside, she split back into us again."

"But to think that bastard would do something like this...!" Amara hissed in anger, fists knotting in anger. "Damn him!"

"We've chit-chatted long enough," Vegeta interjected impatiently. "You two were searching for everyone else Buu absorbed, correct?"

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou nodded.

"We can all go together, then," Goku suggested.

Since their goal was the same, no one rejected Goku's idea. Even though two of them hated to admit it aloud, things were accomplished a lot faster when everyone worked together. The four warriors soon turned and began walking further up the passageway they were in. Thoughtful silence followed them as they ventured deeper and deeper, still finding no signs of the other members of their group. Finally, after a lengthy, quiet walk, the four had slowed to a stop when they'd come to a 'crossroad' of sorts. The pathway they'd been walking on had been split in half up ahead, with one side curving off to the left and disappearing down another passage, while the other half sloped upwards off towards the right, stretching across a ledge and terminating in yet another passageway.

"So, which way should we go?" Goku said, scratching his head like he always did whenever he got stumped by something.

"Well, whatever direction we choose, it won't be no safer than the other considering where we're at," Amara remarked grimly.

"All right, Kakarott. Which way would you chose to go in?" Vegeta asked. Everyone stared at him in surprise, which he ignored. Since when did Vegeta start caring about Goku's judgment in anything?

"Hm. Well..." Goku's expression of surprise quickly melted into a mask of pensiveness. He stared out at the two separate paths, wondering which one would be best for him and the others to follow. After a long moment's consideration, the younger Saiyajin nodded to himself after he'd apparently reached a decision. "Okay, everyone. My gut instinct is telling us that we should go...left."

"Good," Vegeta said, surprising the other three warriors even more as he actually seemed to be agreeing with Goku. "Then I'll go right with Juuhachi-gou. You and Amara can go the other way."

"What!" Goku exclaimed, floored by Vegeta's words.

Juuhachi-gou lifted a questioning brow at Vegeta.

The perpetual furrow in Amara's eyes deepened.

"But I thought you wanted me to pick the way for us!"

"Idiot, do I have to spell it out for you?" Vegeta asked disdainfully. "With there being two openings, the others could be in either of them. If we split up, we can cover more ground."

"I suppose you're right," Goku said, mollified.

"Come, Juuhachi-gou," Vegeta beckoned with a wave of his hand as he started walking toward his selected passage. Juuhachi-gou remained where she was for a moment, then she shrugged and followed after him

Goku and Amara were left alone. He laughed sheepishly, and Amara rolled her eyes in annoyance at her husband's best friend. Without so much as a word, Amara headed for the other passage.

"Well, this should be interesting," Goku sighed. "H-hey, Amara! Wait up!"

The Saiyajin broke out into a jog after the princess to catch up to her.

For a short while, Goku and Amara walked together in thoughtful silence.

"Oi, there's a light up ahead!" Goku announced, bringing Vegeta's sister out of her musings. Amara looked out in front of them and noticed the luminance as well, soft and green.

When they eventually arrived at the source of the light, the two did find a surprise. Not a bad one as Amara was fearing it might be, but what she and Goku had discovered was still very surprising nonetheless. The emerald glow had actually been coming from a person- a very familiar person.

"Oi, look! It's Gohan!" Goku enthused.

Sure enough, it was Son Gohan standing in front of them. He had been facing the other way at first, but as soon as he heard his father's voice, he immediately spun around to face him and Amara.

"Hmph! Don't tell me you've just been standing here all this time?" Amara asked, scowling. "We've been looking everywhere for you."

Gohan didn't respond.

"All right, Gohan, let's go find-"

Goku was interrupted when Gohan suddenly lunged at him and kicked in the chest, sending him flying into a nearby wall.

"Kakarott!" Amara said in surprise. She then turned to stare at Gohan as if he had gone crazy. "Gohan, what in the world has gotten-"

Amara trailed off as she truly noticed that blank stare on Gohan's face for the first time. She scowled.

"You're not Gohan!" Amara realized. "Who the hell are you?"

Elsewhere, walking down a different part of Buu, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou were unaware of the situation Goku and Amara had gotten in. The two walked together in silence down the passageway.

Every so often, Juuhachi-gou snuck a glance his way. Frankly, she felt pretty awkward walking alongside him. Just two days ago, he had died but now he was there with her again, just still not-so-quite alive. Plus, the memory of him saying goodbye to their son and her in his own way before he sacrificed himself was still very fresh in her mind.

However, Vegeta noticed her quick looks in his direction, and it wasn't long before it started to get irritated by it.

"What is it?" he asked.

Juuhachi-gou swiftly covered up her surprise at getting caught.

"There's something I don't get," she said. "When you and Goku fused, I'm sure you two could've easily killed Majin Buu. Why didn't you?"

"Feh, don't be stupid," Vegeta told her. "If we had've destroyed Buu, then you, Amara, and the others would have died along with him."

"But you could have used the Dragonballs to wish us back," Juuhachi-gou replied.

"And risk wasting a wish when we do use the Dragonballs? How foolish." Vegeta looked sideways at her. "Hmph, and here I thought you were much smarter than that."

Juuhachi-gou glared coldly at her mate. "Keep running that big mouth of yours, and I'll make sure you never get your life back!"

To her surprise, Vegeta chuckled.

"A challenge, then?" he said. "I welcome it!"

Juuhachi-gou stared at her husband momentarily. Then she rolled her eyes.

"Idiot," she muttered, but she was smirking a bit as she did so.

Only a moment afterwards, Juuhachi-gou came to a sudden stop, frowning at something.

"What's wrong?" Vegeta asked, drawing up beside her.

"There's something up ahead." Juuhachi-gou pointed in front of her, and Vegeta followed her finger.

The two just stood there in the middle of the passageway, waiting for the whatever it was they were sensing to reveal themselves. In the next instant, two young boys appeared before the two of them, each wrapped up in a eerie green glow. Though as strange as it was, it wasn't all that strange seeing as how the two boys were the same ones they'd been searching for.

"Koji! Goten!" Juuhachi-gou said, both her and Vegeta glad to see them both.

"Are you two okay?" Vegeta asked.

Neither Koji or Goten answered.

"Now come on, you two. We're going to go find Kakarott and Amara," Vegeta said. "Follow us."

On that line, both Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou around and started heading back in the direction they'd just came from. They were unawares that neither Koji nor Goten were even attempting to follow them. Instead, the two of them lined up side by side one another in a familiar position. Then, the two performed the Fusion pose.

The Saiyajin and Jinzouningen immediately stopped when they saw the brilliant flash of light behind them. Turning simultaneously, the two stared in identical surprise and confusion at the sudden reappearance of Super Gotenji in his Super Saiyajin Three form.

"G-Gotenji?" Juuhachi-gou asked, bewildered. "Why did you fuse?"

"What in the world is going on here?" Vegeta demanded as looked directly at Gotenji.

Gotenji's response came in the form of two ki blasts. Still puzzled about why the boys fused, they certainly wasn't expected them to attack and both got caught by the beams. Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou went sailing backwards into a wall. The two didn't even have enough time to catch their composure, as more ki blasts came flying towards them. Though, this time, the two were a bit more pepared and hurriedly leaped out of the way. The ki blasts struck the wall instead, and for a few minutes it struggled against the wall before it finally exploded, spraying body fluids all over the place. While Juuhachi-gou was fortunate enough avoid it, Vegeta didn't.

"D-dammit!" Vegeta snarled, his body tensed in disgust.

Juuhachi-gou gave her husband a sympathetic look, but at the same time glad it wasn't her.

Vegeta looked up and glowered over at his fused half-Saiyajin, seeing him for the first time. Gotenji looked a whole lot more menacing than before, as he stood in a darker part of the passageway, his eyes glowing with a eerie light. But Vegeta wasn't afraid.

"Why you..." Vegeta hissed. "You're not Gotenji at all, are you!"

"Who are you?" Juuhachi-gou demanded. The imposter didn't answer.

"I'll make you talk then!" Momently, Vegeta transformed into Super Saiyajin, at the same time sending the nasty fluids flying off him.

Just as Vegeta was set to wring an answer out of Gotenji, he heard a cry of surprise from behind him. Pivoting instantly, he saw the reason for Juuhachi-gou's noise of distress was due to a muscular arm wrapped around her neck in a front headlock, and attached to that arm was an all-too green warrior.

"Juuhachi-gou!" Vegeta exclaimed. He then glowered at Piccolo. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your hands off her!"

Piccolo didn't answer. He continued in his attempt to strangle the life out of Juuhachi-gou.

"I don't know what he's thinking..." Juuhachi-gou managed to get out, looking furious, "but he made the biggest mistake of his life putting his grubby hands on me!"

Juuhachi-gou really accented her words by swinging her right leg upward to kick the Piccolo imposter in the face. The blow stunned the artificial Namekseijin, making him loosen his hold- not a whole lot, but it was still enough for Juuhachi-gou to slip out. Taking him by the arm, the cyborged woman flung him across the room toward the Gotenji imposter with a one-armed shoulder throw. However, instead of crashing into him, the Piccolo imposter used its momentum to turn to backflip and alight down on his feet.

For a long moment, Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, and the two imposters stared each other down. Then, with no changes in their expressions, the two imposters charged.

* * *

"What in all the galaxies is going on in there?" Kosumo was asking the two Kaioushins, as the three of them watched with nearly identicaly confused expressions, as the remaining four Z-Senshi did battle with very same people they were trying to rescue.

"I don't understand it, either, Kosumo-san," Kibitoshin said, looking at a loss for words. "Why would Gohan-san and the rest attack the others?"

"Hm," Rou Kaioushin was saying to himself, staring down at the action transpiring on his crystal ball with a speculative look. Something then occurred to him. "Kibitoshin, Kosumo. Both of you, calm your minds, right now. Things aren't really exactly the way they look to you two. They're on a battlefield where Majin Buu's thoughts can take form."

"Huh?" Kibitoshin and Kosumo said together, looking over at the elder god in puzzlement.

"Gohan and the others are nothing more than mere Thought Forms created by Buu," Rou Kaioushin clarified for the two.

The younger deity and the Guardian of Cosmos looked a bit more stumped by that announcemented.

"Thought Forms?" Kosumo repeated thoughtfully to herself.

"How in the world do you beat a thought?" Kibitoshin wondered.

"That's a very good question," Rou Kaioushin agreed.

* * *

Meanwhile, back inside Majin Buu's innards, the Z-Senshi's battles against the Majin's Thought Forms were intensifying on both sides.

Goku was fighting his supposed son in midair. He couldn't ever remember Gohan fighting him so viciously whenever the used to train and spar together. No, Goku knew that this person he was fighting wasn't his son, just by seeing the look into his eyes. While his real son's eyes were eternally warm and friendly, the eyes he was staring into were completely emotionless; it was like staring into endless well of cold darkness. Though in spite of that, whomever or whatever he was fighting sure had Gohan's toughness and fighting style down pack, as he blocked Goku move for move.

Then, unexpectedly, the Gohan imposter snuck into his defenses and smashed the back of his elbow into the right side of Goku's jaw hard. Goku let out a pained grunt as he was sent crashing onto the ground with a loud thud. His opponent touched down on the ground a few feet away from him, standing in wait for the Saiyajin to get back up to his feet. When Goku had at last managed to heave himself up to a sitting position, he was surprisingly grinning.

"Yeah, you're not my son," he said, "but you sure do hit like him."

The Gohan imposter made no reply.

Goku then rose completely to his feet. There was no trace of humor on his face now; he was all business.

"You wanna fight? Then so be it, you faker." Following that, Goku transformed into a Super Saiyajin.

Screaming a battlecry, Goku lunged at the imposter with a familiar face. The Thought Form had tried to prepare himself, as he stood back in a defensive position that the real Gohan took. That made Goku's blood boil even more, and the Saiyajin had no regrets when he reached the imposter and punched him squarely in the face, knocking him hard to the floor like he'd done him earlier. However, as he did so, the fake Gohan's form started to strangely flicker on and off.

"Hey, nice shot," Amara commented, speaking for the first time since the fight had started. She'd been standing on the sidelines, watching the whole thing unfold.

"Uh. Thanks," Goku replied, looking at her in bemusement. "Hey, aren't you going to even try and help?"

"Why should I?" Amara asked him, her lips quirking into a faint smirk. "Certainly the man who defeated King Cold and his sons, and can also transform to Super Saiyajin Three can surely handle this on his own."

Even in his battle-heated state, Goku somehow managed to pull up an expression of befuddlement at that kind of logic Amara had just spoke with_. *Heh. Yeah, her and Vegeta are brother and sister all right.*_

At the same time, in a different part of Majin Buu, things were just as chaotic if not just a little bit more so. In the first half of the fight, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou had been doing very well against the team of the pseudo Piccolo and Gotenji. During the course of the battle, the two had discovered that these two were just a little bit more powerful than the original Namekseijin and the Fusion Warrior. Still, they didn't allowed that to deter them, for they knew if they did it would be the end of them, as well as their chance to destroy Majin Buu.

Unfortunately for them, though, things took a change for the worse when Imposter Gotenji had surprised Vegeta with his Galatica Donut, successfully entrapping him. Thanks to that, the pseudo Fusion child had been able to viciously assault Vegeta with a Kamehameha Wave blast, just after Vegeta had been able to break free from his first attack. Hit on target by the ki blast, Vegeta was knocked down and out, placed into a state of semi-unconsciousness.

With Vegeta down, that left Juuhachi-gou on her own against the two imposters. She fought as valiantly as she could against the two, pulling out everything in her aresnal that she had. But it was two against one and it hadn't taken all that long for the two to completely overwhelm the Princess. At that moment, Juuhachi-gou was in a precarious predicament more so than any of the others she's been in since first entering Majin Buu's body. She'd been forced down into a submissive pose on her knees, with the imposter who resembled her fused son standing behind her, his hand clenched tightly in her hair. Meanwhile, the fake Piccolo hovered over the two of them, the first two fingers of his right hand pressed against his forehead in a very familiar manner and gathered power. He then fired off a Makano Sappou

However, as he did so, two things happened at once. Juuhachi-gou, realizing that the beam would hit her unless she did something to get away from Imposter Gotenji, desperately flung her head back hard, slamming a reverse headbutt in the fake Gotenji's face. She hit him in the face again with a reverse elbow strike this time. That was enough to make him loosen his hold on her hair, which she immediately took advantage of by switching positions with him, then rolled away to a safe distance. And at the same time, Vegeta had recovered from Gotenji's attack, and upon seeing what Imposter Piccolo was about to do, he fired a ki beam at him. Simultaneously, Gotenji was hit on target by Piccolo's beam, while Piccolo was hit by Vegeta's.

Golden electricity danced around the body of the two frauds, as if they were about to short-circuit. The two promptly passed out.

Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou then both let out a collective sigh of relief. The two rose back up to their feet. Seeing that danger was apparently over, Vegeta powered down back into his normal state. Only too soon after he did, both he and Juuhachi-gou got quite a shock. Both the Imposter Gotenji and Piccolo were on their feet again, looking completely unscathed, staring back at them with icy malevolence in their eyes.

"Uso yo!" Vegeta said in disbelief. "Those were direct hits...out cold...what in the world are you two?"

Back on the other side, Goku was wondering the same thing as his fight with Imposter Gohan continued. The battle was starting to take his toll on him, meanwhile, his fraud son was still very much fresh, as he glared dangerously back at the older man. Realizing he should end this quickly, Goku soon cupped his hands by his side in a well-known pose.

"Kame...ha," Goku began, "...me...HAAAA!"

Imposter Gohan quickly countered with a Kamehameha of his own. The two blue-white beams then lashed forward at the same time, meeting one another in the center. Amara watched as the two ki blasts quarrled back and forth, swelling into a semi-size globe in the center. Then, unable to handle the intensity of the beams from the other Kamehameha Wave, both of the blasts exploded, and blinding light filled the entire room...

Meanwhile, back where Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou were, the two had finally gotten over their shock that their enemies were somehow still alive and were both now trying to think of a way to get themselves out of the trouble they were in. So busy were they keeping an eye on Piccolo and Gotenji, that they hadn't notice the wall they were standing beside bulging dangerously large, until streams of blue-white light started to burst through it. The two quickly turned around, and only had time to stare at what was happening before them in shock for a brief time before the wall suddenly exploded, flinging the two off to the side...

When everything had finally settled again, Goku and the Imposter Gohan were still in one piece, as was Amara, who was staring around in surprise. However, thanks to the explosion of the Kamehameha Wave blasts, a gaping hole had been left where a whole wall had just been, and on the other side everyone could now see the Imposter Gotenji and Piccolo. That wasn't all. Lying on the floor were Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou, who were both covered in that slimy stuff this time after the explosion.

"Grr! What in the hell now!" Vegeta was growling to himself, as he was slowly rose back up to his knees, with Juuhachi-gou doing the same beside him.

It was right then there, when the two had finally noticed that had somehow managed to catch up to Goku and Amara again. Though, this sure wasn't the way they'd wanted it to happen. Juuhachi-gou looked as if she was close to having a panic attack as she furiously wiped off the slime off her person.

"Vegeta? Juuhachi-gou?" Amara said, blinking in bemusement when she noticed the revolting looking fluids that now decorated her brother and sister-in-law. Right afterwards, she noticed that Gotenji and Piccolo were with them, both glowing with those eerie lights like the Imposter Gohan.

"Hey, we meet again!" Goku said affably to the two.

With his attention on Vegeta and Amara, that seemingly left Goku wide open for an attack. Thought-Form Gohan tried to take advantage, charging Goku with an attempted punch. Fortunately, Goku had managed to sense it coming and blocked the punch, and then knocked the malicious teenager away with a elbow strike to the back of his spine. Meanwhile, Thought-Forms Piccolo and Gotenji were trying to do the same with Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou, though like Goku, they'd seen their enemies coming. Vegeta had made quick work of the fake Gotenji with a clasp-fisted punch to his back, meanwhile Juuhachi-gou did the same with a hard knee strike to Piccolo's gut and a follow-up roundhouse kick to his left arm.

However, just like last time, the three Thought-Forms shook off their injuires with ease and instantly stood back to their feet. Realizing that this fight was going to be a whole lot tougher than he thought, Goku touched down behind Vegeta, with both Juuhachi-gou and Amara moving closer to them on either side. The four warriors were then forced to move back-to-back, as the Gohan, Gotenji, Piccolo imposters started to move in on them for the kill...

* * *

Majin Buu was unaware of what the Warriors were doing, though he was having this rather strange and bad case of indigestion. He had figure that his body was still going through the process of trying to digest Vegetto. Buu frowned bitterly at being reminded of the fighter who'd actually had the power to destroy him; even when he lost, the Saiyajin was still a pain in the neck. That was also the reason why he still hadn't required anymore power after absorbing Vegetto, just like what had happened with Juumara earlier. Well, no matter. Majin Buu wouldn't concern himself with that for long, as he knew it was inevitable that the two of them be absorbed into his being, just as him being the sole proprietor of the universe was. Besides, he had much more important stuff to occupy his mind with: like finding something to eat.

Even now he was soaring through the air, searching the cities below for something tasty for him to eat. Fighting Vegetto so long, he couldn't remember the last time he had really gotten to eat real food. He was about to change all of that right now. After all, it would do him no good to rule the universe on an empty stomach.

So determined about finding something edible and delicious to fill his stomach with, Majin Buu was completley unaware that he was being followed again. Hidden by the thick clouds, Dende steathily trailed the demon, while carrying Bee under his arm and a protesting Mr. Satan by the back of his shirt. Secretly, the young deity had no idea what he, some foolish man, and a puppy were doing following behind one of the most dangerous villians he's ever encountered before in his life. Sure, just as he had pointed out to Mr. Satan, before they left the place where Buu and Vegetto had battle, that since Buu was searching for food his guard would be lowered. However, what to do once his guard was lower was another thing. What were they going to do then?

_"Well, when that time comes around, we'll just have to take of something,"_ Dende thought grimly_. "Um. I hope."_

Up ahead, Buu suddenly broke out in an elated grin when a delicious scent permeated his nose.

"Oh, boy! I smell cake!" he whooped excitedly. The scent was coming from the city he was approaching. Not wasting another moment, the djinn made a speedy beeline toward the city.

_"There he goes,"_ Dende thought seriously, before following Buu again.

As soon as he entered the city, Majin Buu continued on in tracing the source of that scrumptious smell that had touched his nose a few moments ago. The fact that the city was depressingly barren of any life but his own didn't really faze him a bit. He skimmed low across the empty streets, turning his head this way and that as he searched for his cake and as well as other goodies. A moment later, the voracious djinn had finally spotted a deli up ahead of him. He licked his lips in elation and broke out into a grin.

"It's cake time!" he announced excitedly.

* * *

Just as it seemed like the three imposter warriors were about to unleash an attack on them, something unthinkable happened. They turned into cakes, sundaes, and pies.

"Huh?" the four Z-Senshi said together, bewildered by this abnormality.

"What in the world's going on here?" Juuhachi-gou asked, watching as what was supposed to be her son and his best friend fused together turn into a strawberry, gelatin dessert. Beside her, Vegeta chuckled.

"If I'd hazard a guess, I would say that Majin Buu's trying to stuff his face again, and that's why his mind's defenses are acting all screwy," Vegeta answered, sounding disdainful as he remembered seeing nothing except cakes, candy, cookies, and other sugary treats, but no kind of meat in Majin Buu's stomach before he and Goku had met up with Juuhachi-gou and Amara.

"Well, I guess the danger's over with...for now at least," Goku said. Thinking it was all right to let down his guard just a bit, he then powered back down while still watching in bemusement as the people he and the others had first thought of as Gotenji, Gohan, and Piccolo kept shapeshifting into all kinds of sweet, sugary delicacies.

Juuhachi-gou let out a tiny sigh and brushed a single strand of blonde lock out of her face. As she was looking around, the Jinzouningen woman's sharp eyes caught sight of a depression that could only be yet another passageway inside the Majin's twisted body. Silently, she moved away from her mate and the others and sauntered towards the passage to inspect it.

A moment later...

"Hey, everyone! Come in here, quick!" her voice called back to the room her mate, Goku, and Amara were. The note of urgency in her voice had been unmistakable.

"Juuhachi-gou?" Vegeta muttered, sounding a bit surprised as he just realized he hadn't even been aware that she'd left. Immediately he shot off down the passage way where he'd heard her voice emanate from, with Amara and Goku following close behind him. The three of them had just cut a corner, when they all suddenly stopped, almost simultaneously. The Saiyajin stared in shock at what they'd found.

They had found Juuhachi-gou, but that wasn't all. Trapped inside strange-looking pods, were none other than the very same people they'd been searching for: Goku's sons, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's son, and Piccolo. Even now, Juuhachi-gou was standing in front one of the pods in particular, resting a hand on the face of the pod's occpuant... it was the one that contained her and Vegeta's son.

"Alright! We've finally found them!" Goku cheered. "There's Piccolo, Gohan, Goten, and Koji! They're all here!"

"Yeah, but before you start to celebrating, how do you even know they're alive?" Vegeta asked him.

"They're alive," Juuhachi-gou informed him, though never taking her eyes off their son. "They're just unconscious, is all."

"She's right," Amara agreed, as she walked over to the unconscious Piccolo and touched his face. "He's still warm."

"Then, what are waiting for?" Vegeta asked. "Let's take them down already."

The others nodded in agreement to that idea, and soon started going to work on freeing Buu's captives.

* * *

"This is it!" Buu announced to the barren world around him, his voice filled with deadly enthusiasm. After assaulting over twenty five cake shops in a row, becoming deliciously full from all those tasty snacks had put him in a serious mood again. He was now floating over an island located far from the civilization he had just left behind. "In recognition of me becoming absolutely invincible, I shall annihiliate this measely planet once and for all!"

Buu was still gathering power for his deadliest attack of all when a strange sensation overcame him. It was a feeling like something being torn from him on the inside washed over him, and he was startled into reabsorbing the energy back into his body. Looking down at himself to see what had happened, he nearly keeled over when he saw that he was now dressed in Piccolo's weighted cloak again. But worst of all, his ki had took a sharp nosedive from the incredible level it had been at just a mere moment ago. The _ripping _feeling returned once more, and while still looking down at himself in disbelief, he could do nothing but watch as his body regressed back into his 'Super Buu' form.

"Wha...whuh...what's going on here!" he growled in dismay, sounding brusque and uncivilized just like before. "No...NO! My body!"

Majin Buu wildly started wondering what could have been the cause of all of this, when recognition had abruptly hit him hard. He was then reminded of the bad indigestion he had earlier, as well as having difficulty to use the attacks of Vegetto and Juumara after he clearly absorbed them. Yes, things were gradually becoming much clearer to him now.

"So, those four had somehow managed to avoid the Absorption process, did they?" Buu said to himself. His expression then twisted into a look of cold fury that promised very ugly deaths for the aforementioned people he'd just been talking about. "Those fools! I'll kill them all for this! They'll pay for ruining everything for me!"

Just before the angry demon could get to thinking of a way to do just that, something else occurred to him, and it made his furious expression melt briefly into something that open dismay. *_Oh, no! If they were able to find my people pods that contained their friends, then it also means they could find __**him**__ in there as well. And if they do-*_

Majin Buu wasn't someone who normally worries over anything by any means. However, even the thought of what could happen if his enemies were to ever discover his very special pod severely disturbed him to point that he looked nearly afraid. Then Buu shook the feeling away. He would not let this get to him! He knew there was still time to stop all of this, and if he acted quickly enough he could go in and kill his enemies off before they were able to find _him _inside his mind as well.

Hastily, the Majin started looking this way and that, searching for something. He seemed to have found it, when he finally laid eyes on a convenient cliff nearby. Nodding once, Buu flew over to the precipice and touched down on it. Within moments, he stilled himself until he resembled a mere statute. Then, with his eyes still open though narrowed a bit, he concentrated, and commenced an inner journey inside his body to deal with the interlopers.

* * *

"Okay, that's all of 'em," Goku announced cheerily after taking down the pod containing Gohan.

"Good. So that means we can now get out of this wretched place," Amara said.

"Do you all feel that?" Vegeta asked everyone, looking around. "Majin Buu's power has dropped a whole lot. If we can just get out of here, we might be just be able to put him down for good."

"Well, that's easier said than done, Vegeta," Goku responded seriously. "Even though I kinda like our odds of facing Majin Buu without being Vegetto now, he's still a lot powerful than all of us. If we go out there now, he could still kill us."

Vegeta shot Goku a dark scowl. Leave it to Kakarott to dash his hopes by pointing out to him what was also unfortunately true.

"Yeah, that's a problem, all right. But fortunately, there's a way we can still win," Goku added, his expression brightening.

"And just what would that be?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

"Somehow, I know where he's going with this," Amara said, sounding irritated.

"I know what he's getting at, too," Vegeta said, grimacing at the younger Saiyajin, "and he can just forget it!"

"But I ain't said anything yet!" Goku replied, looking very childish at the moment as he pouted. Now the others could all see where Goten got that look from.

"You were going to suggest we do Fusion," Vegeta told him. "The same type the little pipsqueaks used, no?"

"Oh, so you already know about it then?" Goku asked, relieved he want have to go to the trouble of teaching Vegeta how to perform the Fusion.

"I saw it in Other World," Vegeta told him, frowning. "You must be out your damn mind to think that I would do those inelegant poses!"

"Inelegant poses?" Goku repeated. "I didn't think they look so bad. But come on Vegeta, merging wasn't that bad, right?"

While Vegeta continued to refuse Goku's Fusion idea, Juuhachi-gou quickly grew bored of it. Turning, she had wanted to check on the condition of her son and the other unconscious warriors as well. However, something intercepted her gaze. Something that made her impassive expression melt away into complete shock. What she was looking at completely defied all of her logic.

When she had finally managed to get her brain to working again, she turned towards the Saiyajins and yelled, "Hey, shut up, you two! Come over here and take a look at this! You're not going to believe it."

Her words instantly put a stop to all the arguing. Wondering exactly what they wouldn't be able to believe, the three Saiyajin then walked over to see what Juuhachi-gou had wanted. Upon arrival, Juuhachi-gou directed them the source of her shock, and when the trio looked, they were immediately stunned by what they found themselves looking at.

Before them sat another pod, but inside it was...the original Majin Buu.

There was a moment of stunned silence between the four of them. Then Goku said, "What in the world? It's...it's the Majin Buu from the very beginning inside...Majin Buu!"

"W-what does this mean?" Amara asked. "I thought he had been this destroyed."

"I remember now," Vegeta said, while and the others moved closer to expect this oddity. "I saw this from Other World as well. The original Majin Buu separated into two beings. The fat one ended up being turned to chocolate and was eaten by the Skinny Majin Buu."

"That's right," Juuhachi-gou said. "A few of us saw it as well from the Lookout."

Standing on the other side of Goku, Amara was giving the unconscious, corpulent Majin a speculative look.

"Hmm. I wonder," she said.

"Wonder what?" Vegeta asked, curious.

"Well, we all felt how much power he'd lost when we'd removed your son, the Namekseijin, and Kakarott's boys from Buu's system," Amara answered. "Now, if we were to remove this one from his being, then what do you supposed would happen?"

"I'll never give you the chance to find out!" a new voice, though not unfamiliar at all, angrily interjected.

The four warriors quickly spun around, just in time to see a familiar shape rising out of the center of the strange pool of ooze. The Senshi watched, aghast, as Evil Majin Buu stepped completely into the room with them, flashing his wickedly carved teeth as he grinned maliciously.

"M-Majin Buu in here with us?" Vegeta said, stunned.

"This is lunacy!" Amara exclaimed in outrage and amazement. "How the hell can he come inside his own body like this?"

It was apparent that Majin Buu didn't care in the least that he'd just once again broken the rules of reality. He was too busy regarding the four in front of him with bloody murder in his eyes.

"I thought something strange was happening in here," the demon commented. That wicked grin on his face then turned into malignant fury as he added, "How dare you fools tear down my pods I worked so hard just to get!" At the end of his speech, Majin Buu's power erupted around him and lashed out angrily at his enemies.

"I think we're in trouble now," Vegeta said.

"Maybe we wouldn't be in trouble, if you hadn't crushed your Earring," Goku pointed out, looking back at the Prince accusingly. "Thanks to you, we can't even fuse into Vegetto anymore. You could've just placed the Earring in your pocket, but no. You just had to fix it so we couldn't fuse anymore."

"You idiot!" Juuhachi-gou snapped, glaring vexingly at Goku. "You shouldn't have told him that!"

"Oops. Sorry!" Goku apologized, realizing the huge blunder he just made.

Over in the pool of ooze, Majin Buu was grinning hugely upon the Saiyajin's unintentional revelation. "So, you can't merge anymore! That's just perfect!"

"Great going, imbecile!" Vegeta berated. "What else are you going to tell him? What style of underwear you have on?"

"Hey, I said I'm sorry," Goku said guiltily.

Majin Buu let out a loud bark of laughter. Yes, things were certainly looking in his favor now!

"But wait," Juuhachi-gou spoke up, "Amara and I can still fuse with the Galactic Rings!"

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that," Amara said dryly, her shoulders slumping. Why hadn't she destroyed her Galactic Ring when she first came in here?

"Then, hey, we're in luck!" Goku said cheerily. "You two can Fuse together and do battle against Majin Buu."

"I won't let you!"

With that declaration, Majin Buu promptly leapt out of the pool of ooze and touched down in front of the four warriors, causing them to backpedal a bit. Not about to back down, though, all three of the Saiyajins immediately transformed into Super Saiyajin. Juuhachi-gou clenched her fists and raised them in a familiar posture, preparing herself in cased Majin Buu came her way.

Noticing this, Vegeta promptly grabbed Juuhachi-gou by the arm and roughly pulled her behind him. Juuhachi-gou glared at the back of her mate's head.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" she demanded.

"Look, just stay behind me, all right, " Vegeta replied. "Let us Saiyajin take care of this."

For a brief moment, Juuhachi-gou stare down at her husband in surprise. Then she looked affronted. In the next instant, Vegeta was dealt a harsh blow to the back of his head.

"Itai!" he howled painfully, holding the offending spot on his head, where he could feel a freshly made lump. Furious, he whirled around to see what had hit him, but the only thing he saw behind him was his mate, who was glaring down at him exasperatedly, and as well as her raised clenched fist from where she'd hit him."What the hell was that for!"

"That was for trying to treat me like some helpless child!" Juuhachi-gou bellowed back, making Vegeta backpedal a step. "I don't need your protection! In case you've forgotten, I'm perfectly able to defend myself, thank you!"

Briefly, Vegeta stared back at Juuhachi-gou. Then, his expression scrunched up into something fierce enough to make Juuhachi-gou backpedal away from him, as he took a closer step toward her.

"Now you listen to me, and you listen good," he told her in a tight-controlled voice. "For the last two days, I've had to stand by and watch helplessly as that bastard over there harassed you and our son. But that won't be happening while I am here! So, shut that big trap of yours, stay behind me like I told you, so I can protect you already!"

Vegeta's vehement response left Juuhachi-gou stunned and speechless. She tried to get her mouth to move so she could make a retort, however, she could get nothing to come out. In the end, all she could manage was a "humph", then she stubborningly crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, though refrained from saying anything else. Meanwhile, the other two Saiyajin and Majin Buu were staring at them blinkingly.

"Good. That's much better," Vegeta said. As he was turning back around to face Majin Buu, he missed the scowl of defiance Juuhachi-gou shot at him.

"Well, now that your little lover's spat is over with," Amara said derisively, "could we please get back to the business at hand, here?"

Majin Buu flashed the Princess a malicious grin. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I was just about to kill you all!"

"You think that's funny, do you?" Goku asked, his mouth curving into a lopsided smile. "Well, I think I have an idea on how to wipe that stupid smirk off that ugly mug of yours. Tiime for a litte renevating." As Goku said that, he raised his hand.

Super Buu only grinned wider. "Go right ahead and try!"

"Okay, then. If you insist." On that note, Goku let loose with a strong blast of energy. The ki beam flew a long distance through the air before eventually slamming into what Goku thought Buu's face might be, and exploded on contact. While Majin Buu remained completely unconcerned, the rest of the Z-Senshi watched and waited to see what damages Goku had done. However, to their dismay, all Goku had managed to do was leave a scorch mark on the area he hit.

"What? No hole? No nothing?" Goku asked in surprise.

"I can't believe it," Amara said. "He didn't really leave all that much of a mark on him at all."

"Yes, that's not good," Vegeta murmured grimly in consent.

Majin Buu chuckled at the dismayed expressions on his enemies faces. "Hey, don't feel so down. I had felt that just then, though. Right here," he said, pointing towards his right temple. "It tickled, just like a mosquito bite. Though, for a minature guy such as yourself, who's actually smaller than a flea, that attack hadn't been all that bad."

"So, what are we going to do now?" Juuhachi-gou asked.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do," Goku said firmly. "We're all going to escape this place and regain our size. Getting past Majin Buu shouldn't be all that difficult."

Majin Buu only yawned from boredom at the challenge. "Oh, I wouldn't say that if I were in your shoes."

Goku then looked towards his teammates, and asked, "You guys ready?"

"Ready when you are," Vegeta replied.

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou nodded their agreement.

Majin Buu yawned again, saying in so little words yet again that having to fight four people at the same time didn't really worry him in the least. However, doing that might just been a careless mistake on his part, for Goku and Vegeta realized that Majin Buu was momentarily distracted, and decided to catch Buu while his guard was down. Or so it seemed his guard was time. Just as the two Saiyajin had gotten in close range of him, Majin Buu had dropped his pretense, and a sinister grin curved his mouth. Twisting around, he caught the approaching duo with a reverse elbow to Goku's jaw and a clothesline to Vegeta, sending the two Saiyajin flying in opposite directions, where they crashed onto the floor hard. Majin Buu laughed at them.

Drawing up alongside Majin Buu, Amara aimed her right index finger at him, already gather ki for an attack. "SOLAR STRIKE!"

"Huh?" Majin Buu only had time to turn, before the attack slammed into him with great impact. Amara grinned at her handiwork.

That proved to be a mistake. While she was silently gloating, something suddenly shot out of the smoke where Majin Buu had been at lightning fast speed. Before Amara could even register it, in the next moment she found herself being painfully squeezed by something- something that proved to be the head tentacle of Majin Buu. When the smoke had at last cleared from below, Majin Buu reappeared, unscathed and grinning up at his captive menacingly.

"My turn," he informed her. Then, with a yank of his head, he flung the Saiyajin Princess through the air, where she soon collided jarringly against a wall. She slid down to the floor with a groan.

"Amara!" Goku cried.

"It's useless! All your attacks are useless!" Majin Buu laughed. "Inside here, I truly am immortal! You'll never be-

His words were cut off when a Kienzan came flying out of nowhere and sliced cleanly through his neck, lobbing his head off. Before it could even hit the ground, a small blitz of ki blue-white ki blasts crashed into his head, blasting it into oblivion. However, just seconds later, the headless demon regrew his head anew. Turning his entire head around, he glared at the culprit.

Juuhachi-gou smiled back at him impudently.

Afterwards, Majin Buu let out a sound that was both a battle cry and a wicked laugh as he charged Juuhachi-gou. The cyborg stood her ground; the Saiyajin hadn't run from him, so nor was she. She was going to remind Vegeta that she was just as tough as he, Amara, and Goku was. Majin Buu had just gotten arms-length of Juuhachi-gou, when all of a sudden, a large ki blast came out of nowhere and collided into the demon, flinging him off to the side. As Juuhachi-gou was blinking in puzzlement from what had just happened, Vegeta had reappeared before her, shooting a fierce look at her over his shoulder.

"Woman! Didn't I tell you to stay out of the way?" he barked.

Juuhachi-gou looked back at him with cold scowl on her face. "And didn't I tell you to not try treating me like a child?" she countered crossly. "Don't underestimate, Vegeta! Apparently, you've forgotten just who and what I am! Maybe I should break your arm again just to remind you of that!"

Vegeta stared at her a bit oddly after her retort, finding himself secretly surprised that the mention of her embarassing him in that fateful battle all those years ago and breaking his arm didn't secretly infuriate him as it once would have. In fact, he kinda found it funny and in some preverse way...endearing. Then he swung his gaze back onto the enemy, refocusing himself at the task at hand: finishing off Majin Buu and getting him and his family out of there alive.

Majin Buu grunted in annoyance as he rose back up to his feet. He glowered coldly for a long moment at the Saiyajin Prince for catching him off guard, then he broke out in a malicious grin and right before the eyes of his enemies, he slid down into the 'ground' like it was quicksand.

"What? Where the hell did he go to?" Vegeta demanded, getting back on his guard as he looked this way and that for any signs of the demon, as did Goku and Juuhachi-gou.

"I don't know, but we better be careful," Goku said, looking serious, "Majin Buu can use his body to his advantage anyway he sees fit."

The three looked around when they heard a grunt, and saw a disgruntled Amara walking back over towards them, rubbing her head.

"Are you alright, Amara?" Goku asked.

"It's nothing that won't kill me, but if I get my hands on Buu, I'm going to do my best to kill him!" Amara snarled.

The four then all tensed in place when familiar loud, mocking cackles filled the entire room. They looked around for Majin Buu, trying to see where he was, but his laughter had no definite direction as it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Unconsciously, the group moved a little closer together. Suddenly, the demon started popping up all over the place, laughing that unhinged laugh of his and shouting taunts. Although everyone found it annoying, Vegeta was handling it the worst.

As it continued, Vegeta's annoyance at the whole thing started to build and build and build until he thought he was seeing several different-colored Majin Buus. And then he could take no more-

"SHUT UP!" he snapped, unleashing a blitz of ki blasts. So lost in his rage, Vegeta didn't notice that the pods containing his son and the other absorbed warriors had been in the pathway of his attack, and Juuhachi-gou, Goku, and Amara, gaped as the watched the pods get hit with energy blasts. Luckily, though, no damage had been done.

After a moment Vegeta stopped, heaving from exertion. Though unfortunately for him, he still wasn't able to stop all the laughing.

"Vegeta, next time watch where you're shooting!" Amara snapped.

"Yeah, you could've harmed our son and the others!" Juuhachi-gou said.

"Hey, Vegeta, calm down," Goku suggested in a soothing tone. "He's just trying to bait you is all."

"You're right, Kakarott!" Vegeta agreed, calming himself down after a moment. "A warrior must stay detached."

"Tic-toc, tic-toc, tic-toc." The four warriors quickly turned in the direction they'd heard Majin Buu, and wasn't all that fazed to see him swinging side-to-side on the ceiling like some pendulum in a clock. "Oh, don't be mad. This isn't a bad place to spend an eternity in! And all of your times are up!"

"We'll see about that!" Goku challenged, his ki burning around him. Spreading his legs and cupping his arms out in front of him, Goku let loose with a large ki blast. Majin Buu was still grinning, even as the blast fully enveloped him and he became lost in a explosion of Goku's power.

Everyone moved over to see what had happened to Majin Buu. When the smoke cleared away, there was no sight of Buu anywhere, and left in the place he'd been it was a large hole. And through that large hole, was quite the pleasant sight of sunlight seeping through.

"Kakarott, you did it!" Vegeta said. "You made an escape route for us. Now we can get out of here."

Unfortunately, their dreams of escaping were swiftly ruined, when the gaping hole was abruptly refilled by tissue, and then the tissue morphed into the grinning face of Majin Buu.

"Fools, there is no escape for none of you!" he sneered. "It is time you all became apart of Buu!"

On the heels of that statement, ooze shot up from behind the four warriors and morphed into a giant fist. They barely had time to turn around before it descended on them all for a massive punch, sending the fighters flying. Not finished, the fist opened up and assaulted them further with a ki beam. Afterwards, Buu reconfigured himself to personally survey his doings satisfactorily. He brayed with triumphant laughter when he saw all four warriors lying motionless on the ground, all in perfect positions to be absorbed into his body.

Buu's grin widened when he noticed his tissues creeping toward Amara and Juuhachi-gou. Although it would've been a whole lot better if he were able to absorb them as Juumara instead of as separate people, power was still power and these two were amongst the great masters on this planet, so they were better than nothing.

On different sides of the room, both Vegeta and Goku started to recover. Raising their heads, the two gasped when they saw Buu's tissues advancing ever closer toward Juuhachi-gou and Amara. Ignoring whatever pain they might've been feeling, both quickly got back to their feet and rushed over to save the women. The Majin watched in wicked amusement, even as the Saiyajin were able to make it in time and blast Buu's tissues away from the unconscious Jinznouningen and Saiyajin.

Vegeta and Goku looked up when they heard Buu applauding them with claps.

"Nice rescue," he commended. "But too bad it won't do you any good!"

Buu burst into laughter again, as his forelock elongated out and he slapped both Vegeta and his unconscious wife to one side of the room, then slapped Goku and the unconscious Amara to another side of the room. Majin Buu continued to snort with guffaws, holding his side as he found the huge advantage he had over his enemies absolutely delightful. This battle was his!

Majin Buu's eyes suddenly shifted onto Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou. His grin widened.

"I think I'll absorb you two first," he growled menacingly.

Realizing he was speaking of him and Juuhachi-gou, Vegeta quickly stood protectively over his mate. As long as he had breath in his body, he wasn't about to let that bastard lay a finger on her. Howling, Majin Buu charged at the pair, however, halfway there he was obstructed by a flying kick from Goku.

"You leave them alone and fight me instead," Goku said, and pursued Buu some more.

Back on the ground, Amara was resting safely against a wall. On the other side, Vegeta was still trying to process the fact that Goku had saved him again. Normally, he would've absolutely resented it, but now he wasn't sure if he still should or be grateful. Just then, Juuhachi-gou awoke beside him and slowly sat up, groaning slightly. Vegeta noticed this and looked down at her.

"Are you okay?" Vegeta asked.

Juuhachi-gou nodded. "Where is Majin Buu?"

"Over there fighting with Kakarott."

They watched as Goku charged the Majin again, only to be evaded as he dissolved back into the floor.

"Dammit! Where he'd go now?" Goku growled irritably.

"Here I am!" Buu's voice called out to him in reply.

Spinning, Goku immediately launched a storm of ki bolts. Shouting with laughter, Buu easily dodged the Saiyajin simply by sinking back into himself. Reappearing a second later, he looked around and his smug expression melted into panic when suddenly noticed that a stray ki blasts was heading towards the pod containing his Good side. Acting quickly, Majin Buu jumped in front of the pod and allowed the ki blast to hit him instead.

That had been too close! Had the blast actually made a hit and then it would've been over for him.

Unbeknownst to Majin Buu, that didn't go unnoticed by Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou.

"Vegeta, did you see the way Majin Buu reacted when Goku was about to hit the other Majin Buu?" she asked. "He was very afraid of Goku hitting it."

"Yeah, I noticed all right," Vegeta replied, quietly impressed at his woman for spotting something so important. His visage turned calculating as he was starting to grasp just why Buu seemed extremely protective of his corpulent counterpart.

Juuhachi-gou looked up at Vegeta when he suddenly stood. "Vegeta?"

"No time to explain, just follow me," he answered and walked off. Wondering what he was up to, Juuhachi-gou did follow him.

Concurrently, Goku was doing his best to dodge Buu's assault. Ever since the cyst containing his Good side was nearly hit, the Majin had starting attacking with renewed intensity. Swiftly, Goku dove into a niche behind a stand of muscles to avoid a rain of ki charges. Closing his eyes, Goku braced himself as the blasts pulverized the muscles, thanking Dende-sama that they were sturdy enough that the beams couldn't penetrate on through.

Albeit he knew he was far from safe, Goku quiet sighed and tried to use this time to catch his breath a bit. Sitting there, Goku reflected on his current foe. Buu was one of the most powerful, persistent villians he's ever encountered, and so far, the only thing he knew that would put an end to the demon was Fusion. Yes, Vegetto had definitely been more than a match for Majin Buu. And if it hadn't been for the others being trapped inside of Buu, they would've definitely destroyed Majin Buu when they had the chance.

_*But that's the sacrifice one makes for the people they love,*_ Goku thought to himself.

Thinking of his loved ones ablazed Goku's desire to survive this battle. He'd hate to have regained his life just to be killed all over again before he could even have the chance to be with his family after being away from for so long. He wasn't as naive as most people thought he was. He knew both Chichi and Gohan had terribly missed him these past seven years, and even though he'd actually been enjoying it over on the Other Side, he'd miss them too. And even nicer was that now he had another son to go home to, and he really wanted to get to know Goten.

_*I've just got to get through this,"_ he told himself determinedly. "_I want to be a husband to Chichi again, and a father to both Gohan and Goten. I want us to be a real family.*_

Realizing what would be waiting for him if he could defeat Majin Buu, Goku definitely wasn't going to let Majin Buu win! Even if he and Vegeta can't fuse anymore (due to Vegeta's stubborness), he wasn't going to give up. There just had to be some other way to win, there was always a way, and countless times over he'd found that way to defeat the odds, and like those times he was going to do it again.

Goku then reopened his eyes, knowing what he had to do, and that was destroy Majin Buu once and for all. Unfortunately, before he could even begin trying to do that, Majin Buu's head suddenly shot out of the ground in front of him with a horrible grin on his face. Goku was so startled by this that he let out a yelp and somersaulted away from Buu, but he didn't get very far as Majin Buu fully reappeared in front of him, blocking any possible escape routes. Majin Buu chortled as he stared down at Goku, who seemed to be frozen in place, wearing a look of apprehension on his face as he realized Majin Buu had him completely cornered.

"Now that you see just how useless it is, I'll put you out of your misery!" Majin Buu offered, raising his hand point-blank in Goku's face.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	59. Chibi Majin Buu Unleashed

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ or the characters. I just own the original characters in this story.**

**Chapter Fifty-Nine: Chibi Majin Buu Unleashed**

* * *

Majin Buu laughed horribly as he prepared to deliver the killing strike to Goku. Even as the instrument of his death hovered in his face, the Saiyajin didn't even attempt to resist, unable to ignore the inevitable.

Then...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Hearing Vegeta's familiar voice, both Buu and Goku looked in the direction it originated from. Still semi-groggy, Amara also raised her head to see what was happening as well. The three found Vegeta standing on the far side of the room next to Juuhachi-gou, but between the two of them was the pod that contained the Good Majin Buu, which was being roughly held by a grinning Saiyajin Prince. While Goku and Amara stared at the two questioningly, the Evil Buu looked unbelievably worried right now.

"Get away from that, NOW!" Majin Buu bellowed, sounding both furious and urgent at the same time.

"You certainly are protective of this other Majin Buu, aren't you?" Juuhachi-gou observed, smirking unpleasantly. "But why is that?"

At Buu's look of dismay, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou laughed cruelly. They had the demon completely in the palm of their hands. After all the hell Majin Buu had put them and everyone else through these last couple of days, they were thoroughly enjoying this moment.

"What are they up to?" Amara muttered, slowly and painstakingly pulled herself back to her feet.

While Goku was quietly wondering what Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou were cooking up as well, beside him, Majin Buu had seemed to have forgotten all about the idea of killing him, pulling back his energy back into his body. His attention was completely focused on the couple, especially on Vegeta, as he knew the Saiyajin could rip out the pod containing his other half at any second.

"Now what will you turn into when I rip this guy out, hm?" Vegeta asked. "Back into the fatso here, or into the skinny guy?"

"Don't! Stop!" Majin Buu implored.

"Either way, your power will drop considerably from where it is now," Vegeta added.

"I say do it!" Juuhachi-gou said maliciously. "Rip it out! Let's just see why tearing down this pod worries the mighty Majin Buu so much."

Vegeta pulled threateningly on the pod.

"Stop! Don't touch that!" Buu begged again. "Take your hands off! Or I'll-"

"Or you'll what?" Vegeta jeered. He made another threatening tug on the pod, extracting another dismaying reaction from the Majin. "You aren't in any position to be making any threats. We're in control now!"

Majin Buu's body tensed up as he glared at the Saiyajin and the Jinzouningen mutinously. Nevertheless, Buu knew what Vegeta had just said was true; his enemies now had the advantage over him. He knew if he were to make Vegeta angry enough, he really would tear down the pod without a single thought. That was why he'd entered his own body in the first place, to stop the intruders from coming across his most important pod...and his one true weakness. When his enemies had freed their friends from him, he had been changed back into his previous form, but if they were to take down the pod holding his Good half, he would change into something that even he was afraid of turning into. If that were to happen, then all hell truly would break loose.

Goku rose up to his feet, watching the whole scene in puzzlement.

On the other side of the room, an expression of amusement and approval slipped on Amara's face as she realized what was going on there. _*So that's their game. Vegeta and the Cyborg have found Majin Buu's achilles heel.*_

"Please! You must not rip that guy out by force!" Majin Buu pleaded. "I won't be me any more!"

"I won't be me any more?" Goku repeated.

"Now that's a cue if I ever saw one," Juuhachi-gou said, smirking.

Grinning remorselessly, Vegeta started to pull on the pod in earnest now.

"NOOOOO!" Majin Buu wailed. He rushed at the Saiyajin Prince frantically, trying to get to him in time before he- too late! With one final tug, Vegeta ripped the pod from its attachments, unconcernedly flinging it to the ground afterwards. The pod rolled over twice before coming to a complete stop.

For a long moment, Majin Buu stared down at his unattached and unconscious Good self with an utterly horrified expression. Then he let out a drawn-out scream of fury and pain, clutching his head. Right in front of everyone's eyes, the artificial Buu liquefied and slowly melted into a large puddle of pink gunk. Wanting a closer look, Goku and Amara walked over to the remains of the Evil Buu.

"Is he gone for good now?" Amara asked.

"Don't let your guard down," Goku warned. "He might appear again from somewhere else."

"I don't think we have to worry about that," Juuhachi-gou said confidently, as her and Vegeta approached.

"She's right. Things look much different this time around," Vegeta agreed.

Just as soon as he said that, however, at the center of the pool of goo, Evil Majin Buu's head suddenly sprouted back four Senshi watched as the artificial Majin let out one last scream of rage at them, before dissolving back into muck for good this time.

"Whew! For a second there, I thought we were gonna have to start all over again," Goku said, washing the sweat off his forehead in relief.

"Good. Now we can finally get the hell out of here- Huh? What in the-" Amara had suddenly noticed their surroundings, and was disturbed to see the "walls" and "ceiling" of Buu's mind room shifting and dripping with saliva. The others saw this as well and gasped.

"Majin Buu's body structure is starting to change again!" Juuhachi-gou realized.

"Hurry! We've got to get out of here quick!" Vegeta shouted urgently.

Not needing to be told twice, the others followed Vegeta as he started to head towards the opening out of the room. Then Amara abruptly remembered something.

"Hey! We're forgetting the others!" she informed them, as she skidded to a halt and swiftly turned back around.

Realizing that as well, the others immediately stopped and went to go help Amara gather up the sleeping warriors Buu had absorbed earlier. In the end, Amara had gotten Goten's pod, while Goku got Gohan, Vegeta got Piccolo, and Juuhachi-gou got Koji. Now that the rest of their members were safely in tow, the Warriors quickly made a swift beeline towards the exit without any interruption this time.

During all the commotion, the pod containing the Good Majin Buu had been completely forgotten.

* * *

Evil Majin Buu was experiencing one of the worst pains he's ever experienced in his life at that moment. Not even any of Vegetto's attacks had hurt so much. He screamed his pain out to the world, clutching his head tightly in some unconscious effort to make the pain stop. What Buu felt right now was the feeling of being torn from the inside out; it was an excruciating experience. However, beyond all the pain, Buu could feel something else happening to him. He was morphing again, just like he had done when his other people pods had been ripped from their attachments inside his 'mind room'. Though, compared to change that was about to come over him now, those last times were going to pale into comparison to this time. When he pleaded with Vegeta to not forcibly remove the pod with his Good side, that wasn't just to spare his life, but also a great warning they would regret not heeding. Once his transformation was complete, once all of his pain had finally faded away, he would make those very same four that had done this to him feel pain magnified a thousand times more so than what he was feeling now.

* * *

All there was left for the Z-Senshi to do right now was fly, fly, and fly. They raced hurriedly through Buu with their unconscious passengers in tow, frantically looking for a way out of the Majin. That was easier said than done, especially since they were trying to escape while the Buu was in the middle of undergoing yet another transformation.

"We've got to get out of here quick before he finishes changing!" Goku said, shooting uneasy glances at the morphing walls of Buu's body. "Who knows what will happen to us if we're stuck in here when he's done."

"But which way do we go?" Amara asked.

As she flew silently behind and beside Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou kept stealing glances as their unconscious son to check on him from time to time. It unnerved her to see him so lifeless and deathly quiet. It was a large contrast to how vibrant and full of life he normally was. Maybe he would awaken once they finally found a way out of Buu- if they could find a way out.

The four had soon re-emerged back through the hole the Wormlike-Enzymes family had told them where Majin Buu had stored their family and friends, and while the area they had come from had been blackish-blue in color, the one they were travelling through now was a bright orange. After a few minutes into their flight down the new passage, the Senshi gradually started to become aware of the fact that it was growing extremely warm inside the Majin. It was swiftly growing so bad that the incredibly hot temperature was nearly unbearable.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Goku asked weakly, as the oppressive heat continued to assault him.

The heat was getting to Amara and Vegeta as well, making their skin slick with sweat and their clothes stick. Juuhachi-gou was the only conscious one who wasn't being affected by the heat; it was yet another advantage of being a cyborg. Though, she was still aware of how hot it was right now because of the readings her internal scanners were giving to her.

"Majin Buu's body temperature is rising off the charts!" she informed. "He's nearing critical level!"

The three Saiyajin let out a collective noise of dismay at that revelation.

"You mean he's about to erupt like a volcano?" Goku asked.

Juuhachi-gou grimly nodded in response.

The tyrannical heat was really starting to take its toll on Vegeta, making it hard for him to barely marshal up enough ki to stay afloat in the air. When he started to drop lower, Piccolo's pod dragged across Buu's skin, which was not a good thing, as the extremely hot temperature of Buu's skin started to make it catch on fire. That quickly snapped Vegeta out of his daze. Recovering his bearings, Vegeta rose back high into the air with Piccolo's pod. However, he hadn't got very far when he noticed something below.

"Wait, everyone! Take a look at this," Vegeta called, as he slowed to a stop.

The others heard Vegeta and stopped as well. They went to go join him and see what he wanted. The others soon discovered that what Vegeta had wanted to show them was the pores on the "ground" periodically issuing out steam. Everyone stared with matching stunned expressions.

"So, he really is about to blow," Amara said discouragingly. "Damn it!"

"Man, at this rate, we'll become boiled octopuses!" Goku said.

Deciding not to waste any more time talking, they all took off again. Not that they hadn't been flying as fast as they could since the moment Majin Buu's metamorphosis had started, but now the Z-Warriors were using all of their speed to the fullest.

Suddenly, Gohan's pod slipped through Goku's sweat-slicked hand. Goku gasped loudly in consternation when he saw his son falling. Moving as fast as he could, he shot down to intercept his son's pod before it came into contact with Buu's burning skin. He was successful, as he caught his eldest son's pod just time. Unfortunately, in doing so, he'd unwittingly touched Buu's skin with his backside, and it took him a few seconds before he realized that.

"YIPE!"

Vegeta, Juuhachi-gou, and Amara heard Goku's exclamation. They turned around to find the other Saiyajin wiggling vigorously back and forth, with steam rising from his rear, which to the others looked more like he was doing some ridiculous dance. The three shot him equally exasperated looks.

"What the hell are you doing?" Vegeta demanded irritably.

"What do you think? I'm trying to cool off, here! Sheesh!" Goku protested.

The impromptu conversation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of a large rumbling. It was right then that the four noticed that they'd stopped over a large opening in Buu's skin. And as they were staring down into it, they all noticed that something was ascending up the hole towards them and fast.

"What is that?" Amara really wanted to know.

"Whatever it is, it can't be any good," Goku answered, sounding as worried as he looked.

Just as the whatever it was had nearly reached the top...

"Everyone, get back now! That's hot steam coming up!" Juuhachi-gou exclaimed, who was already moving to a safer distance.

The others let out dismaying cries and immediately moved out of the way. They did so just in time, too, as a strong burst of steam erupted out of the hole a second later. Even if they had managed to get out of the steam's path in time, the Warriors still hadn't been able to escape the extreme heat it radiated with as it shot passed them, heading upwards where it dissipated a few moments later.

"Did you all feel that heat?" Vegeta exclaimed.

"No kidding!" Goku agreed. "Talking about scorching!"

"If we hadn't moved out of the way in time, it would've melted the skin right off our bones!" Amara said, feeling just a bit unnerved at having been so close to such a hideous demise just then.

As Vegeta glanced over at Juuhachi-gou, he found her staring intently up at something.

"What are you looking at?" he inquired.

"I was just thinking," she answered without looking at him. "Notice the way this steam keeps rising, like lava? Well, if it's doing that then there must be an opening up there it's trying to get to."

"Yes, that could be our ticket out of here," Vegeta answered, while staring at his mate with a veiled look of approval.

As the steam dispersed again, holes lined up in a row on the above them could clearly be seen. This brought varying levels of joy to the faces of the four warriors.

"Look you guys! More holes!" Goku announced.

"Hey, and that looks like daylight!" Amara added.

"That sure would be a miracle," Goku said, "then again, I never rule those out."

"Let's go," Vegeta ordered, as he rose into the air toward one of the holes. The others followed closely behind him

They all rushed toward the hole at top speed, and as they got closer and closer, they were all happy to notice that it was in fact daylight on the other side. They had finally found their way out of the Majin! Sadly, though, just as they had finally reached the opening, it folded itself back close, blocking out the daylight, and as well as the Z-Senshi's chance for escape.

"Ah, man!" Goku whined.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Vegeta growled.

"So, any more bright ideas, Jinzouningen?" Amara asked.

Juuhachi-gou didn't respond, looking obviously disappointed. She had been certain that was the way out.

"Hey, I got one!" Goku announced, sounding very confident.

Vegeta looked at him with interest. "What is it, Kakarott?"

"Well, it's a long shot, but here goes nothing," Goku said, taking a deep breath. The others looked on curiously, wondering what the warrior was about to do. Then he shouted, "Open Sesame!"

Nothing happened. Then Vegeta, his mate, and his sister scowled vexingly at Goku.

"You idiot!" Amara snapped. "This isn't some enchanted password-triggered door here!"

"Hey, it worked in the movies," Goku answered with a shrug.

Amara let out a noise of exasperation, just barely stoping herself from whacking her fellow Saiyajin with the pod that contain his youngest son.

"So, what now?" Goku asked. "We've got to think of something else."

"Maybe we don't have to," Juuhachi-gou offered.

"What do you mean?" Vegeta asked.

"Well, look. Remember all the times steam would rise out of Buu's head every time he got mad?" she asked them.

There was a sudden pause among the group, as the three Saiyajin thought back to all their encounters with Majin Buu since he'd been released from his imprisonment. And they recalled that every time he was furious enough, he would always blow his stack.

"You're right," Goku said. "Every time Majin Buu got mad, he always blew his top. That was it, the steam we saw!"

"Do you have an idea in mind?" Amara asked.

Another pause ensued. Then Goku said, "Here, you take Gohan, Vegeta. I'm going to take care of all of this."

"Hm?" Vegeta said, as Goku extended out Gohan's pod towards him. He stared at his long-time rival for a long moment, wondering what he was about to do. Then he decided to not think about it, and took Gohan's pod. He may have not thought much of his rival, but he knew that most of the times when he had a plan, it usually delivered good results.

Everyone moved to the side to give Goku room for what he had to do. The Saiyajin took a deep breath, before he took on a very familiar pose, cupping his hands by his side.

"All right, here we go," Goku said, noticing as he saw steam billowing swiftly straight towards him.

When the steam was getting closer and closer-

"Showtime!" he announced. "You guys get ready!"

"Right," the others said at the same time.

Then the steam got in the right position, and at the same time, the hole above them unfolded opening again, bringing back in the daylight.

"Now! It's opened again!" Vegeta announced.

With a shout, Goku promptly fired a Kamehameha Wave blast straight at the steam. The blue-white ki blast and the pillar of diffused water vapor collided headlong into one another. For a few seconds, they quarrelled back and forth, jockeying for position. Then, seeing that the steam was momentarily delayed, Goku stopped firing and he and the other the Warriors then took their chance to escape through the hole as fast as they could.

Everyone who was still watching the events back on Earth couldn't imagine what they saw next. After Majin Buu had managed to catch Vegetto off guard and absorbed him, all hope had seemed bleakly lost for the planet. But then, during the middle of the strange fit Buu was having, Goku and Vegeta had suddenly popped back into existence, and they didn't return alone, as both Juuhachi-gou and Amara re-emerged a second later. They were followed by all of the unconscious warriors they just rescued. Just as Gohan and the others were about to fall, the four quickly rushed down to catch someone.

"Hey, we made it back!" Goku cheered happily, staring down at himself in jubilance. "And we're our same size again, too!"

While Vegeta said nothing, privately he was just as happy as the younger man was about finally being out of Majin Buu. That had been one of the most revolting experiences that had ever occurred to him.

"I am so heading for the shower as soon as I get home," Juuhachi-gou said.

"Now that's one trip I don't ever want to take again," Amara said in disgust. To take her mind off her horrible memories of being trapped inside Majin Buu's body, she forced herself to look at her surroundings, and was glad she did so. She didn't really know where her and the others were now, other than them being on an island somewhere, but it was a whole lot better looking than Buu's entrails. The pastoral landscape it possessed was quite pleasing to the woman's regal eye; for all its primitiveness, she always thought Chikyuu was as beautiful as Vegetasei had been.

_*And now it could all be destroyed,*_ a detached voice reminded her. That sent a surge of cold anger through her, and even more so when she remembered that both her daughter and her husband were both still dead. She had turned to glare down at Majin Buu furiously, as he was the cause of all of this misery.

Meanwhile, after tracking down Majin Buu to this location again, the odd trio of Dende, Mr. Satan and his puppy had been hiding behind some rocks until now, all unsure what Majin Buu's next move would be. It had been quite puzzling to the deity and self-proclaimed world greatest martial artist when they discovered that the demon had demorphed back into his original form prior to absorbing the Z-Senshi. What was even more puzzling was when Majin Buu started screaming in actual pain, due to some reason they couldn't see. But then, over all the commotion Buu was causing, Dende's long-range hearing had begun to pick up on some other voices- some very familiar voices. At first, he thought he might be finally losing it from all the distress Majin Buu was causing him. Then, as he, Mr. Satan and Bee peered over the rocks again, he was elated to find out that he hadn't just been hearing things.

"Incredible!" Dende enthused. "They did it! They rescued everyone that was absorbed by Buu from inside his body!"

"So, what are we going to do with him?" Juuhachi-gou asked as she finally reset her sights back onto Majin Buu, who didn't seem to be aware of anything at the moment, other than the pain that obviously assaulting his body. The Saiyajin stared at the writhing demon with nearly identical grimness.

"There's nothing we can do," Vegeta answered, "except wait for him to finish with his transformation. Let's drop these guys somewhere while Buu still doesn't notice."

Seeing nothing wrong with that idea, everyone agreed to it, and followed Vegeta as he started to fly off. However, just before the warriors could get away from Majin Buu far enough-

FLASH!

One by one, the four warriors stopped, their eyes widening in equal alarm. Without saying anything to each other, they suddenly reversed direction and made their way back to the cliff where Buu was.

"Majin Buu, he's..." Amara answered, the alarm that could clearly be seen on her features, could also be heard in her voice as she just spoke.

"His ki seems to be growing..." Goku added, his voice sounding uncharacteristically hollow just then.

"But that...that shouldn't be!" Vegeta said in disbelief. "Buu should be getting weaker, not stronger!"

"Right! It happened when we removed Koji and the others!" Juuhachi-gou said, sounding stunned. "So why not now?"

Upon arriving on the scene, the four didn't really see any changes in Buu at first from the brief time they left him. He was still convulsing in excruciating pain like he had been doing from the moment they escaped him. Nonetheless, as they continued watching him, they soon started to note that Buu's veins were bulging all over his head, neck, arms, and upper body, looking as if they would pop at any moment now.

"If this keeps up, he's going to be stronger than he was when he absorbed Gohan and the others," Goku commented seriously.

"You're right," Vegeta growled in agreement through gritted teeth. He was really not liking the looks of this latest development.

Meanwhile, the women watched on quietly, feeling disturbed at the idea that Buu was growing even more powerful even after they'd attacked him with his seemingly one weakness.

Then...

"Aaaaaaggggghhhhh!" Majin Buu flung his head back and wailed louder than ever, as even more pain racked at him. His transformation was really beginning now. All the bystanders watched on with stunned expressions, when Buu's chest began to expand at a horrific rate, followed by his arms and shoulders, and finally his abdomen.

In the next moment, things had seemed to have finally come to a stop. Everyone who was watching stared in disbelief at what seemed to be Majin Buu's newest form. He'd already been intimidating looking enough before, but now in his latest transformation, he'd been turned into a hulking brute, with his muscles seeming to have muscles atop of them. His head tentacle extended to the area above his waist, largely because his metamorphosis had noticeably taken away some of his formidable height, and now he was without the benefit of a neck. Everybody could only stare, aghast.

"Man, he's bigger than he was before!" Goku said, sounding uneasy. "But at least he's shorter."

Beside her, Juuhachi-gou's widened and she gasped loudly in dismay. "Oh, no! He's still transforming!"

"What?" the others shouted in unison.

"Dammit!" Vegeta snarled frustratedly. He really wasn't liking the looks of this. "And here it comes, too!"

His point was proven when Majin Buu let out another painful wail. As if to shrug off the pain, he started moving his arms in crazy gestures. Then, right before all their eyes, gradually, Majin Buu changed. Though, not into something more horrible looking than how he appeared now. In fact, from the looks of things, Majin Buu's body was starting to shrink, as well as his height. First his head tentacle shrunk, followed by his arms and shoulders, then his chest and abdomen. And then it was finally over.

As the new Majin Buu was panting heavily with exertion from the great effort it had took for him to transform, all of the spectators that had been watching him were staring at him in utter shock. After Majin Buu's previous transformations, everyone had been expecting for him to turn into something just as unpleasant as his previous incarnations. However, what they got instead was a Majin Buu that could quite clearly pass for a twelve year old child.

Stunned silence ensued everywhere afterwards.

"Look, he's totally puny!" Vegeta scoffed. He then looked over at Goku and Amara, saying, "And you two were actually afraid."

"You're the one to talk, Vegeta," Goku countered good-naturedly. "You were white-knuckled and you know it."

"Oh, please. Both of you had yellow streaks running down your back just a few seconds ago," Amara said.

"Now we should definitely manage something against Buu without having to do Fusion," Goku said confidently.

"Would you look at that?" Mr. Satan was saying to Dende. "Buu looks like a kid now." The World Champion grinned at the thought of that. "Yeah! Now it's time for Satan to kick some Buu butt"

"No, don't!" Dende exclaimed.

"Huh?" Mr. Satan replied, looking down at the young Kami in curiosity.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Dende said, looking alarmed as he took in the appearance of Kid Majin Buu. Unlike the Saiyajin, the Kami's sensing abilities were far grander, and what he sensed beneath the surface of this new Buu truly terrified him. "I have a real terrible feeling about this."

While the Saiyajin found seeing Majin Buu downsized very hilarious, Juuhachi-gou didn't. In spite of the harmless form Majin Buu had taken, something about him made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, and not even any of Majin Buu's other incarnations had been able to do that to her. She felt the same way that Dende did. There was just something ominously different about Buu's latest form, something she didn't think might be such a good idea to oppose or to take lightly at all.

And they weren't the only ones who felt that way.

* * *

"This can't be!" Kosumo gasped, staring in dismay at the image of the kid-sized Majin Buu shown on the crystal ball.

Abeam her, Kibitoshin let out a shuddering gasp and dropped to his knees again, staring horrifyingly at the image as well. His face had gone pale with fear and despair once more, his knuckles were literally white, as his hands were clenched in his lap.

"H-he's turned back!" he said bleakly.

"Turned back?" Rou Kaioushin repeated. "I'm not familiar with this Majin Buu. Have you two seen this version before?"

Both Kibitoshin and Kosumo nodded.

"I-It's like this..." Kibitoshin began. Then, his expression turned distant as he turned his mind back to where his long-time nightmare had begun. "At the time, Earthlings were first beginning to walk on two legs. Here in the Kaioushin Realm, under a kind and gentle Dai Kaioushin-sama, there lived the Kaioushin of the North...the Kaioushin of the West...the Kaioushin of the South...and as well as myself, the Kaioushin of the East. Then, Madoshi Bibidi created the terrible Majin Buu."

Kibitoshin's expression hardened as he went on. "Because of those peaceful times back then, none of us had been prepared at all for evil that Bibidi was about to unleash onto the universe...Majin Buu- the very same Majin Buu you see on the crystal ball right now. None of his previous incarnations is as horrible and vile as the original. He knew no mercy at all."

"The Kaioushin of the West would be the first to experience that. She had fought valiantly against Buu, knowing that she was a in a fight for her life, but was just simply no match with him. He killed her easily, while Bibidi watched from afar, urging him on."

"The Kaioushin of the North would face Majin Buu next, and would meet a just as cruel demise."

"The Kaioushin of the South would follow. Being the strongest and most hardy of us, he was the first of us to truly give Majin Buu a fight. Unfortunately, that is why he would be the first victim of Majin Buu's Absorption technique."

Rou Kaioushin nodded with growing understanding. "If this is the real original Majin Buu, then that huge Majin Buu we saw right before he completely changed back was the form he took after absorbing the Kaioushin of the South?"

"Yes," Kibitoshin confirmed. He continued on. "I was the youngest, and most powerless, but somehow I was spared and was only badly hurt. That was thanks to the Dai Kaioushin-sama during that time. He had always been such a kind being, so...it shocked me to see him unleash such a furious offense on Buu the way he did. Unfortunately, Majin Buu would recover, and the next one to be absorbed by him was the chubby, yet kind and gentle Dai Kaioushin-sama."

"And the Majin Buu he became was the one who was resurrected on Earth two days ago," Kosumo added. She grimaced regrettably, clenching her glaive tightly. "Being the Guardian of the Cosmos, I had wanted to help so badly. But the Elders forbidded me, saying it would be pointless suicide if not even the Kaioushins could stop that monster."

"The Majin Buu that Bibidi created was the very essence of evil," Kibitoshin added. "It was a failed creation that not even Bibid himself could handle, but by absorbing the Dai Kaioushin-sama, he became somehow or other able to control him."

"So then he finally became complete," Rou Kaioushin said seriously. "Which then would mean...The little Majin Buu now is the very first, most difficult one, then?"

"Yes. His heart, which through absorption had allowed his power to even be reduced, has returned back to its original form."

"This is bad," Kosumo commented, looking quite worried at the crystal ball. "Goku-san and the others are unaware of this. They have no idea what they're up against this time."

"Exactly," said Kibitoshin. "Now that he's back in his original form, Majin Buu is at his most dangerous. Wthout the influence of Dai Kaioushin, Buu is evil- pure, unrestrained evil!"

* * *

Back on Earth, the Senshi had finally gotten to depositing their unconscious passengers somewhere safe, as they had a feeling that things were about to start again. There was a large space tucked away beneath some nearby overhangs, and that is where they put the warriors.

"This place should protect them well enough," Amara remarked thoughtfully.

"I'm getting worried," Juuhachi-gou spoke up again, drawing everyone's gaze on her. She was looking down at her unconscious son. "We've been out of Buu for a while now, and Koji nor the others have awakened yet." No one knew this, but she was more than just a little worried that the reason her son hadn't come to yet was because something was seriously wrong with him.

Vegeta said nothing, only staring down at his son.

Fearing the same thing, Goku cradled Gohan into his arms.

"Hey, Gohan. Wake up, son," he called urgently.

He was dutifully rewarded by a groan from his eldest child. Goku smiled in relief.

"Gohan's coming to. He's going to be all right," Goku said happily. "So will everyone else."

"Hey, Vegeta," Goku called.

He got no response.

"Vegeta?"

No response again.

Wondering why Vegeta wasn't answering him, Goku turned around. He saw that something else had caught Vegeta's attention, as he was looking this way and that.

"Vegeta? What's wrong?" he inquired.

When Vegeta didn't answer again, Juuhachi-gou and Amara looked over at him as well. Abruptly, Vegeta stiffened in place, and his face twisted back into his habitual scowl.

"Majin Buu's on the move again!"

It was as Vegeta stated. One second he was still on the cliff, and in the next he was gone. He zipped briefly through the air before touching down on another cliff. The reborn Chibi Majin Buu stared out into the world again, taking in the beautiful, serene scenery of the landscape around him, enriched by an expanse of a ocean, the surface of the water sparkling as the sun's rays reflected off it. Just watching it only broadened the small demon's urge to destroy everything until there was nothing left. A smirk that was evil incarnate curled his mouth at the thought.

Throwing his head back, Chibi Buu flared up into a even deadlier monster and announced his return with a ear-splitting scream. Buu's scream echoed all over the almost completely empty world, shaking the planet to its very foundation. The sky turned dark, and pink, lightning bolts fell from the sky to hit the earth. The once beautiful ocean had become savage and darkened as well, with cyclones of water ascending in and out of its depths and into air. Empty cities were demolished.

Being close to where the disturbance was coming from, the Senshi, Dende, Mr. Satan, and also Bee clamped their hands down hard over their ears to block out he sound.

"W-what is that!" Goku cried.

"His screaming is impossibly loud!" Vegeta added.

"Could someone please shut him up?" Juuhachi-gou growled.

Amara said nothing, but it was clear she wasn't liking this any better than them.

Almost as suddenly as Buu's assault over the already ravaged world had begun, it stopped. The sky turned back azure; the water turned back blue as well, and the water calmed back down as the cyclones went away. And gradually the Earth had stopped shaking.

Or so it seemed as if Buu had stopped.

For not too soon after that, Buu raised his hand and fired a ki beam towards ground. There was a general outcry of shock from the Warriors. They knew that attack had enough power to destroy the entire plane if it hit. Acting fast, Vegeta fired a ki beam of his own. Just as Buu's blast was about to hit, Vegeta's collided into it and sent it flying into space.

"T-that was close!" Goku exclaimed, appalled. "That bastard!"

"He tried to blow the Earth away all of a sudden!" Amara said.

Juuhachi-gou turned to her husband. "But Vegeta saved us."

"Thank you, Vegeta," Goku said.

"Ahondara!" Vegeta snarled, ignoring the words of praise he was getting. "Yarou! Didn't he realize he would've died as well if that blast had hit just then?"

"Maybe, maybe not," said Amara. "After all, he can regenerate; we can't."

"Come on, let's go in closer," Goku suggested.

He flew off, with Amara on his heels. Vegeta was about to take off as well, when he noticed Juuhachi-gou trying to come with them and quickly reached out to stop her as she was about to fly off as well. Juuhachi-gou frowned at him.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"You stay here," he said curtly, before joining the others.

Juuhachi-gou stared wide-eyed at Vegeta's retreating form incredulously, then her face contorted in fury.

"That bastard!" she hissed angrily. "Who the hell does he think he's talking to?"

Up in the air, Buu was fuming after his attack had been intercepted. Noticing movement behind him, the child-sized Majin looked at them over his shoulder.

"Hey, Buu!" Vegeta barked furiously. "If you're going to blow up this planet, that's up to you, but how about you do it after you've fought us!"

"Huhrn?" Buu grunted, glowering at the Prince.

Vegeta laughed. "That's more like it."

Chibi Buu spun completely around. For a moment, he glowered at the three warriors coldly. In the next, he grinned wickedly, baring just as wickedly sharp teeth. The Saiyajin warriors stood on guard, when Buu suddenly raised his hand again, gathering more power for another attack. The trio hadn't known what to expect but it sure wasn't the massive energy ball the Majin ended up creating, its intense glow turning the whole area bright pink.

The three Saiyajin stared at the enormous energy attack in consternation.

"No, that just can't be meant for only us," Goku said apprehensively. "That's enough ki to blow up the entire planet."

"That bakemono!" Amara snarled, feeling that insulting Buu was the only thing she could do against him at the moment.

Beside her, Vegeta watched in disheartenment, his teeth bared. There was just no way he could stop that. It was going to hit, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. So lost in his dejected thoughts, that he didn't notice the lithe form appearing beside him.

"There's no way that can be repelled!" Juuhachi-gou said, horrified.

Hearing her voice snapped Vegeta out of his daze. He glared at his wife.

"Woman, what are you doing here?" he demanded. "Didn't I tell you to stay back there!"

Glaring at him back, Juuhachi-gou retorted, "And didn't I tell you not to treat me like a child!"

* * *

In the Kaioushin Realm, everyone there had realized exactly what Juuhachi-gou had realized.

"We've got to go help them," Kosumo implored.

Rou Kaioushin looked over at his descendant. "What are you waiting for? Go get 'em!"

"Right, sir!" Kibitoshin said, understanding what Rou Kaioushin meant. He then disappeared in a blur.

* * *

Chibi Buu giggled maniacally, as he literally held the very destruction of the remaining Senshi and the Earth itself in the palm of his hand.

"No, Majin Buu!" Goku screamed desperately. "Please don't do this! There will be nothing left! Why are you doing this?"

Chibi Buu heard all right, but that only made the demon want to destroy the planet and the remaining people on it all the more. With no more waiting, the short Majin grinned and flung the ki ball towards the Earth, turning the world around them into a foreboding pink. Briefly, everyone floated in place, watching in horror as the massive ball of energy slowly burned through the air towards them.

Juuhachi-gou shook herself, suddenly remembering her son was still below with the other unconscious warriors.

"Koji!" she screamed in alarm.

"Oh, no! The boys and Piccolo!" Goku shouted. An idea then came to him. "Come on, everyone. Let's go grab the others, and then I'll teleport us off the planet."

Agreeing to that idea, everyone flew earthward at full speed.

As they flew, Goku abruptly looked down and noticed Dende, Mr. Satan, and Bee standing on a cliff. *_Oh, no! I forgot all about them! But I can't get them, teleport off the planet, then come back and get Gohan in the others!*_

Goku was conflicted. While his urge to go rescue his sons, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's son, and Piccolo was strong, he just couldn't leave those three behind when they were conscious and staring up at him with wide eyes. Swearing under his breath for being put in such a tight spot, Goku flew downward to save them.

"Grab on!" he yelled at them.

Dende and Mr. Satan (who was holding Bee in his arms), did as they were told, and Goku caught them in passing. Goku then tried to continue onward to where his sons and the other unconscious fighters were, but as he looked behind him and noticed Buu's attack getting ever closer, he suddenly realized that still being able to rescue them would be a miracle too big even for him.

*_Iie! There's just no way I can be able to do that. I just can't!*_ he thought in despair.

He saw there was just only one choice to take, one that disgusted him to the core. He had to leave the unconscious warriors behind. With an expression of revulsion on his face, Goku raised two fingers to his head in a familiar pose...when all of a sudden, Kibitoshin appeared out of thin air.

"Kibitoshin!" Goku exclaimed in surprise.

"Goku, here!" Kibitoshin shouted urgency, extending out his hand. Goku grasped it tightly.

Looking over his shoulder, Goku yelled at the other warriors, "Hey, Vegeta! Grab my hand, and Amara and Juuhachi-gou grab both Vegeta's hands."

"Right!" Vegeta grasped his rival's hand. He reached out and grabbed Amara's left hand, and just as Juuhachi-gou was about to dive downward, Vegeta caught her by her left leg.

"What are you doing! We've got to get out here!" Vegeta shouted.

"But what about Koji?" Juuhachi-gou yelled back. "We've got to get him!"

Everyone looked downward at the several forms lying unmoving and dejectedly on the ground.

"There's no time!" Goku said, but his words were lost in the roar of the energy attack, as it got closer and closer to them.

It soon hit, and the once beautiful Mother Earth went up in a horrible explosion, taking the unfortunate Piccolo and the children of Vegeta and Goku along with her.

* * *

The destruction of Earth didn't go by unnoticed.

Rou Kaioushin and Kosumo witnessed it on the crystal ball.

All the way on New Nameksei, the Namekseijin felt it. People at the Checkout Station saw it on the large movie screen.

Kaiou of the North saw it with his ability to see through dimensions.

In Hell, former enemies of the Senshi celebrated in triumph by a crystal ball, though one cried on the inside from disappointment.

* * *

Rou Kaioushin and Kosumo looked up when suddenly, Kibitoshin reappeared in front of them with his passengers, all landing on their feet except Dende and Mr. Satan. The two deities smiled at them in elation and relief.

"Superb! You made it back here alive!" Rou Kaioushin enthused.

"We were starting to worry there for moment," Kosumo added.

Not all the Z-Senshi heard her, as their thoughts were more or less back on Earth and what they left behind.

Goku pounded his fist on the ground in frustration.

Standing nearby, Amara trembled with quiet fury.

"Koji..." Juuhachi-gou whipsered under her breath, on her hands and knees, staring at the ground in despair, a tumult of emotions running unrestrained through her. She couldn't believe it. Her son...was actually dead. That impish, blue-eyed boy she gave birth to, the only thing in the universe that had once made her feel like a real human was dead. Her eyes started to burn as if she was about to actually cry but she quickly put a stop to that. She wasn't about to cry in front everyone, especially Vegeta, but it wasn't very easy for her to do.

Standing by her, Vegeta saw the expression on her face, and his own turned into rage. Looking around, Vegeta's blue-green eyes landed on Mr. Satan, and just the sight of him infuriated him. Looking in Kakarott's direction, who was kneeling on the ground with a fused look of guilt and anger, Vegeta stalked over to him, grabbed him by his shirtfront and brought him to his eye level.

"Baka yarou!" Vegeta all but screamed in Goku's face. "Let me get this straight! You save the Namekseijin brat, some mongrel, and that worthless excuse of a human before our sons and the others! How could you!"

Dende looked shamefully at Vegeta after his outburst, then lowered is head.

"I am sorry," he said apologetically

Vegeta looks over a Dende momentarily. Then he looks back at Kakarott and briefly growls at him, before roughly letting him go. "I can't believe that maniac destroyed the Earth," he growled under his breath, as he went a short distance to fume over it all.

"Yes, it is a real tragedy what happened to Earth," Kosumo remarked. "It really was a beautiful planet."

The Senshi and Dende gazed over at Kosumo with horrified expressions. It was still hard for them to believe the blue planet they've been living on, no matter how many years that had been, was really gone. Although, there was one from Earth who didn't seem too believing.

"It's been completely wiped out," Rou Kaioushin said grimly. "Completely blown to bits."

"T-the Earth has been wiped out?" Mr. Satan asked incredulously. He then burst into laughter. "But that's impossible; heh, heh, we're standing on the Earth right now. Maybe you need your eyes checked, babe. And you geezer, you just love to say funny things, apparently"

Kosumo, Rou Kaioushin and Kibitoshin tossed the World Martial Arts Champion a frosty glare.

"Excuse me!" Kosumo started.

Dende hastily placed himself between the deities and the foolish man.

"M-Mr. Satan-san!" the young Kami exclaimed, scandalized. "You can't speak to them that way! Those gentlemen are Kaioushin-sama, and that lady is the Guardian of the Cosmos!"

"Kaioushin-sama? Guardian of Cosmos?" Mr. Satan repeated. "What's that?"

"Now listen, above Kami-sama, there are Kaiou-sama, and above that, there is the Dai Kaiou-sama. After them comes the Guardian of Cosmos-Kosumo-sama, and even above that at the very top stand those two, the Kaioushin-sama. And this is not Earth, but the holy land of the Kaioushin Realm!"

Mr. Satan actually considered that. Then he glared at Dende in annoyance.

"You're taking this joke too far, don't you think!" he said. "If those geezers and that woman are so awesome, then why don't they do something about Buu?"

The Kaioushins, Kosumo and Dende looked chagrined.

"W-well, they..." Dende started, sounding uncomfortable with having to truthfully answer that question.

"He sure gets you where it hurts, huh?" Rou Kaioushin remarked, him, his descendant and Kosumo frowning loftily at Mr. Satan.

Meanwhile, Amara, Vegeta, and Juuhachi-gou steadily glared coldly at him.

"To be honest, I always found it suspicious that someone like you was Kami-sama in the first place," Mr. Satan told Dende, striking a nerve. Then his eyes widened as a sudden realization came to him. "So that's it!"

"Huh?" Dende asked.

"I finally figured it out!" Mr. Satan said. "This is all just one big dream!"

"What?" Dende exclaimed, starting to wish he hadn't just asked Mr. Satan what he meant.

"Yeah, this is all just one big dream!" he said again. "Ah, I get it! Here I thought that things were weird! After all, there's no way that anyone stronger than I, the World Champion, could exist in this world, is there? There is really no Majin Buu, and these guys are just strange characters in my dream! That would be consistent. I thought that things starting with the Tenkaichi Tournament were weird right from the beginning."

"U-um..." Dende stepped forward, wanting to talk some sense into the delusional man, especially since he could feel everyone's aggravation towards him growing and growing by the second.

"That's right! If this is a dream, I think I'll fly through the air, too!"

Promptly, the man took off at full speed; Bee ran alongside him, just like he used to do with Good Buu. The ground started to incline, taking the pair up a hill and to a cliff. Just as he reached the edge, Bee put on the brakes, apparently having enough good sense to realize this wasn't a dream and not jump off it, unlike his friend Mr. Satan.

Raising a fist towards the sky, Mr. Satan shouted, "Listen well, Majin Buu! This may be a dream, but how dare you kill my cute daughter Videl, and blow the Earth away! I, Mr. Satan, will fly into space, and put you down!"

Then, Mr. Satan took a running start across the cliff and past its edge...then gravity left him, and he dropped on the back of his head on a shelf below, then fell onto the outcropping of some rocks below. Bee peered down over the edge sympathetically at his friend.

"Man, how can something that's supposed to be a dream hurt so much?" Mr. Satan asked dazedly, a big lump decorating his head.

The others weren't so sympathetic.

Rou Kaioushin laughed in amusement. "Bravo! It's been such a long since I got to witness such great entertainment."

Vegeta growled in vexation, then turned toward his rival.

"Kakarott! You let Piccolo and Gohan and the others, who we worked so hard to rescue, die instead of that big idiot!" Vegeta snapped.

Beside him, Juuhachi-gou glowered at the younger Saiyajin in scorn.

"I hope you're proud of your decision!" Amara said angrily.

Goku looked away, unable to respond.

"There's no bringing them back!" Vegeta realized. "Our last hope, the Dragonballs, were wiped out along with Earth, after all!"

"Something's happening on the crystal ball!" Kibitoshin suddenly said in alarm.

Everyone quickly gathered around the crystal ball to have a look. Everyone stared wide-eyed at what was happening.

Chibi Buu was starting to regenerate.

"After being blown to pieces, Majin Buu is returning to normal!" the fused Kaioushin exclaimed.

Goku swore.

"It's him, all right!" Vegeta growled.

"What a monster!" Juuhachi-gou gasped.

Amara grimaced.

"Even for him, to revitalize so quickly is absurd!" Kosumo said.

But even if they all couldn't believe their own eyes, right before them on the crystal ball, Chibi Majin Buu had become whole again. That evil smirk of his still plastered on his face.

"If any fragments of Majin Buu are left behind," Kibitoshin said, "then no matter where he is, he will recover.

All of a sudden, Buu vanished from sight. Everyone gasped.

"Wh-where'd he go?" Goku asked.

"It appears as if he instantaneously moved to another planet," Rou Kaioushin observed.

"Now that he knows Kibito's Instantaneous movement technique, he can move at the speed of light!" Kosumo said grimly.

On the crystal ball, Chibi Buu reappeared on another planet atop of cliff. It was a strange place, with a dark pink sky, there was ocean as far as the eye could see, and sticking out of the ocean were odd formations with golden light filling window-like shapes. It gave the impression that the beings on this planet actually lived inside those odd structures.

All the more good for Chibi Majin Buu.

Laughing maniacally, Buu jumped into the air and fired a ki blast at the planet. Instantly, the planet went up in a brilliant explosion like Earth had a while ago. Its neighbor suffered the same fate, and then its neighbor, and then its neighbor in a series of destruction. All the Senshi could do was watch, over and over again as Buu destroyed planet after planet and species after species.

"All those people," Goku said mournfully, shaking with anger. "How terrible."

"He's searching for you guys," Rou Kaioushin, looking toward Goku, Vegeta, and Amara. "He's seeking out any strong ki he can find in the vastness of space."

"And because of us, he deliberately continues that meaningless destruction?" Goku demanded, raging.

"That's insane," Amara said.

"That is the kind of guy Buu is," Kibitoshin said. "Again, many lives throughout the entire universe are being lost."

"And even if we are able to defeat Buu, we can't return Earth, or those other planets, back the way they were," Goku said, feeling more powerless than he's ever had.

For a moment, comfortless silence reigned. Then, Dende's expression brightened as he was struck by sudden inspiration.

"T-that's it!" he blurted, getting inquisitive looks from the others. "There are still some Dragonballs that exist! If we go to my home planet of Nameksei, I'm sure the new Elder-sama will still have the Dragonballs made! They can be returned! The Earth, and the other planets! And all those many people who were killed by Buu, too!"

This news pleased all the Senshi. Even the incurably grumpy Prince and Princess of the Saiyajin

"He's right," Vegeta agreed with the plan. "It'll work."

"No, hold on!" Goku interrupted. "Dende, planet Nameksei is pretty faraway, and and I can barely sense the Namekseijin there. Because of that I can't use Shukun Idou. We'd need a spaceship of some sort to get there."

"Which we don't have," Dende realized, deflating.

Vegeta, Amara, and Juuhachi-gou looked equally disappointed.

"Uh," Kibitoshin spoke up, drawing everyone's eyes on him. "I don't know the slightest about what these Dragonball things are, but I can instantaneously move from this Kaioushin Realm to all the planets in the lower realm! You just saw it a moment ago, right? This is Kibito's forte technique. Kosumo-san is also a master of this technique."

"Great! That does it!" Goku and Dende cheered.

The others looked openly elated by this as well.

"In that case, once we defeat Majin Buu, things will work out fine!" Vegeta said with surprising enthusiasm.

"Finally! Things are looking up for us again!" Amara added.

"H-hold it right there!" Rou Kaioushin said with sudden authoritativeness as he stepped forward, interrupted the small festive mood. "You must not use those Dragonballs! They invite confusion in the natural order! They are only permitted to the somber Namekseiji, and possess, as it were capability that runs afoul! Long ago, they were advised only to use them on Planet Nameksei! In fact, the old Namekseijin would absolutely not use them on matters of other planets!"

"Must you be so rigid, old-timer?" Goku asked supplicatingly as he walked over to him.

Rou Kaioushin looked up at Goku out the corner of his eye.

With a sudden uncharacteristically sneaky expression on his face, Goku leaned in close to Kaioushin's right ear and added, "Plus, there's a lot of beautiful women on Earth you'll never get to see if you don't let us do this."

"Really?" Elder Kaioushin replied, looking very interested.

"Mm-hm," Goku replied, smiling at his obvious victory.

Rou Kaioushin then he looked over at Juuhachi-gou and Amara, who couldn't hear what was going on. He grinned hugely.

"I'll say!" he agreed enthusiastically.

They both missed the narrow in Vegeta's eyes just then, as the prince continued to listen in on their conversation unnoticeably.

"And there's more where that came from," Goku promised in his most persuading tone.

"Tell you what," Rou Kaioushin said. "Get me a kiss from one of those two over there, and you got yourself a deal!"

Goku suddenly didn't look so confident anymore.

"So, who are you going to choose?"

"Um. Well, it's going to be pretty hard," Goku answered thoughtlessly. "Plus, either one of them will kill me as soon as I ask them. Maybe Juuhachi-gou might do it if I were to ask real nicely. And-"

Goku abruptly broke off in his sentence with a loud gulp, as he realized who had just spoke to him just then. Slowly, stiffly, he turned around and really cringed, when he saw Vegeta standing next to him, his expression twisted in a savage glare. Goku immediately started waving his hands around in intricate motions. "Now, now-wait Vegeta..."

"Baka yarou!" Vegeta exploded, his entire head inflating with anger. Goku could only shrank back. "How dare you think of using MY wife and MY little sister as bargaining chips!"

"But Vegeta-it's for a good cause," Goku explained lamely, laughing sheepishly.

Vegeta wasn't appeased at all. "If it's for such a good cause, then get Chichi to kiss him!" he bellowed, his head finally returning back to normal, though Goku continued to try and explain his case, and Vegeta continued to berate the younger Saiyajin.

While that was going on, Rou Kaioushin seemed to stop paying attention to both the Saiyajins entirely, as he wandered off over to where Juuhachi-gou and Amara were standing. Seeing the unattractive deity approaching them, particularly after overhearing Vegeta's and Goku's conversation, their eyebrows immediately furrowed together in annoyance; neither of them didn't like that perverted expression on his face one bit. They also didn't like it when he started circling around her, like someone who was inspecting different choices of meat. Finally getting fed up, Juuhachi-gou slapped the wrinkled deity away.

"Yow!" Rou Kaioushin cried, as he went sliding across the grass; he came to a stop at the base of a tree.

Kibitoshin covered his face in utter shame, while Kosumo just shook her head in embarrassment.

"To think we'd find a Master Roshi in the sacred Kaioushin Realm," Amara said.

"Oh, no! Buu's just blew up another world," Kibitoshin informed the others. "J-just a moment! Buu is about to move again!"

"He's still seeking the ki of the Saiyajin!" Kosumo said, just as alarmed.

As the others came to gather up around the crystal ball, they could see Majin Buu looking this way and that, still searching for them no doubt. Suddely, it seemed that Chibi Buu had finally found what he'd been searching for, when Buu suddenly jumped up and vanished from sight.

* * *

While Chibi Buu had finally found a power that was way above average and some powers that were a little stronger than average, the owners of those powers weren't the ones he'd been searching for, but even he didn't mind a brief distraction.

He reappeared in a completely different dimension, just in time to catch a pillar as it was about to fall over. People had been down there fighting, but almost at once, they sensed him there and stopped what they were doing to look at him. Those who did know him were, staring up at the wicked Majin apprehension.

"N-no. It's him!" Kurrin said, literally turning blue in the face at coming face-to-face with the very being that sent him to the afterlife in the first place.

"W-who is he?" Olive asked.

"Has he come here to train?" Paikuhan asked.

Nearby, Kaiou of the West turned to his rival, Kaiou of the North, when he noticed him shaking.

"What's gotten into you, Kaiou of the North?" he asked.

"I-it's Majin Buu!" the blue god exclaimed fearfully.

* * *

Back in the Kaioushin Realm, this was still being seen on the crystal ball. Everyone had been shocked to see that Majin Buu could teleport all the way to Other World. And now he was about to terrorize the people there.

"At last, Majin Buu has even found Dai Kaiou-sama's planet," Goku said seriously.

"Kuririn...Hoshi," Amara uttered the names of family to herself. She didn't like the fact that once again her mate and daughter were left alone to face Majin Buu. She had to find some way to get to them!

"Come on. Let's go get him," Vegeta said, clinching his right fist in anticipation.

"Right," Goku agreed.

Turning toward Kibitoshin, Rou Kaioushin says, "Give them your Potara Earrings. If they merge together again, then they can beat Buu easily."

"Oh, yeah, right." Kibitoshin then proceeded to take his Potara Earrings off. "Goku-san! Vegeta-san! Take these Potaras and defeat Majin Buu for sure this time!"

Following those words, he tossed a Potara to a Saiyajin stared down at the earring in his hand for a short time. He was about do what he did inside Buu, and that was crush the earring, when suddenly...

"Thanks Kibitoshin, but we won't be needing this," Goku said. "Forgive me."

"What?" the others chorused in shock.

Beside him, Vegeta was looking at him in open approval.

"It's just that there are things much more important than victory," Goku solemnly said. "Plus, these just aren't right for us."

"Why am I not surprised that this would happen?" Kosumo said in amusement.

"Also, Majin Buu's not merged with anyone any more," Goku added on. "I think it would only be natural if I fought him in my natural state."

"Well, I'll be," Amara said, looking impressed. "There's more Saiyajin in you than I first thought, Kakarott."

"You fool! What are you saying? Have you lost your marbles?" Rou Kaioushin demanded. "This isn't about your blasted ego, this is the fate of the universe we're talking about here. Not some sports-match! Put them on NOW!"

"Care for me to end all the speculation?" Vegeta asked. Even before Goku could answer, Vegeta clenched his hands around the jewellery hard, crushing it into many pieces and dropping the shards on the ground. "We're Saiyajin, and we have our pride after all."

Goku then followed suit destroying his earring as well. Rou Kaioushin and Kibitoshin looked at the pair in dumbfoundment.

Wanting to show of declaration as a Saiyajin, Amara pulled off her Galactic Ring and was preparing to destroy it. But Kosumo quickly snatched it out of her hand before she could do so. Amara glared at her.

"I'll be taking these," Kosumo said. "These rings belong to very powerful and very important people, and they would be severely crossed with me if I had allowed something to happen to these rings. Juuhachi-gou-san, you may as well hand me yours, too."

With a shrug, Juuhachi-gou pulled off her ring and handed it to the Guardian of Cosmos.

"But Goku-san, are you really certain you can win?" Kibitoshin asked dubiously. "Majin Buu is back in his original form, where he is most difficult and powerful."

"I honestly don't know yet," Goku admitted, "but I just know something will work out. They always do. Somehow."

"Oh, great, I'm putting my life in your's and Vegeta's hands for a 'somehow'," Juuhachi-gou said dryly.

Goku at least managed to look sheepish. "Oi, it's okay. We'll manage something. I'm sure of it!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Other World, Majin Buu had finally decided to touch down on the ground. The pillar he'd been supporting finally fell to Earth with a roaring thud.

"That little bastard!" Yamucha hissed.

Majin Buu didn't hear him, though, as he was too busy looking that way and this way, searching for the owner of the power that was stronger than the rest. Kuririn and Yamucha stood amidst the crowd with Hoshi, watching Buu closely.

"He looks different than before," Kuririn noticed.

"I will not become a chocolate bar again," Yamucha thought furiously.

"If he's here without being dead, something must have happened to Mom and the others," Hoshi thought. "But why does Buu looks so puny?"

All of a sudden, Chibi Buu is approached by both Paikuhan and Olive.

"So, you've come here for a little training with us?" Paikuhan asked, looking amused.

"You're on the scrawny side, aren't you?" Olive said. " The training is tough, so you can back down if you want to."

Majin Buu doesn't budge.

"Well, I'll be. No ring?" asked Paikuhan, as he placed a hand atop of Buu's head. "We've a live one here boys!"

Some of the other warriors laughed at Paikuhan's sally.

"No, stop that Paikuhan!" North Kaio said, literally begging. "Don't get him riled up. If you do, we'll all be in for it."

"Nice ventilation," Paikuhan continued to joke at Buu. "Just don't drink too much water."

Majin Buu had obviously had enough, as he pulled Paikuhan's hand off his head. Paikuhan was a bit taken back by the insanity in Buu's grin. Buu swung his neck side-to-side, gearing up for a fight. Everyone instantly got on guard, when it appeared that Buu was about to go on the attack. And they were right to do so, as Buu let out another piercing scream, and just like back on Earth, his howling shook, the entire planet, sending everyone flying like tumbleweed in the wind. After a few moments, Kid Majin Buu stopped his howling and quite pleased with himself.

After pulling themselves from beneath some rubble, Paikuhan and Olive didn't look very impressed.

"So what? You only proved you were a big loud mouth!" Olive scoffed.

Thinking this strange-looking newcomer needed to be taught a lesson, Olive and Paikuhan charge at him. Majin Buu easily dodged their attacks. Paikuhan had fired a blast of energy at Buu at one point, but Buu only regenerated. A second result produced the same results. Then Buu fired a blast of his own, and clearly showed who was better than who, as both Olive and Paikuhan sent flying into a brick wall. The two men slid off the wall and onto the ground.

"Good gravy!" West Kaio exclaimed. "Is he trying to train or kill us?"

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Kuririn charged into action against Buu, ignoring the protests of his daughter and Yamucha. As Kuririn himself knew, they knew he didn't stand even half a chance against Majin Buu.

"Kienzan!" Kuririn shouted, firing an energy disc at Buu, slicing him in half.

It was unsuccessful, of course as the upper half of Buu's body slid smoothly back onto the lower part, becoming whole once more. With that horrible grin of his, Buu charged at Kuririn. Kuririn tried to block but it was of no use as Buu's blows easily slipped through his defenses, and he started battered the dead warrior with a series of lefts and rights. Wrapping his tentacle around Kuririn, Buu slammed Kuririn repeatedly on the ring before letting him go. Buu topped his assault off with a ki blast, sending Kuririn flying through the air. Yamucha and Hoshi quickly rushed over to check on Kuririn.

"Papa! Are you all right?" Hoshi asked worriedly.

"That was a good try man," Yamucha tried to mollify him. "It would've worked on anyone else but that creep."

* * *

"Good, heavens!" said Kibitoshin. "Buu's about to blow up Grand Kaiou's planet!"

The Warriors looked alarmed.

"If Buu does, then they'll vanish completely from this realm," Goku said.

Amara imagined Buu destroying Dai Kaiou-sama's planet, then her mate and husband getting further away from her. She wouldn't accept that!

"Come on, you," Amara said, looking at Kakarott. "Take us to Other World now."

"Actually, I was thinking that we bring Majin Buu to us," Vegeta spoke up.

"That's not a bad idea," Goku concurred. He frowned as something just occurred to him. "Wait a minute, how are we suppose to do this again?"

"Use that brain of yours, Kakarott," Vegeta said, without his usual tartness. "We simply just raise our power levels to their maximum. Is that simple enough?"

"Oh, sure," Goku replied.

Amara nodded in agreement to the idea. The three Super Saiyajin the moved away from the others, geting side by side the three flared their energies.

Back in Other World, Buu stood in the center of bodies strewn all over the ground, while holding a massive ki sphere in the other hand that could destroy the planet if it hit. But before he could feel it, he felt it. Those three familiar energies. Oh, yes! Majin Buu laughed wildly. Now he was going to have some real fun. Reabsorbing his energy, Majin Buu suddenly disappeared.

When Majin Buu reappeared, cackling madly as usual, it was in the sacred land of the Kaioushin Realm, in the place between the Saiyajin and the others. The Saiyajin instantly stopped powering down to look at the new arrival. Then, Goku looked towards the bystanders.

"It's time you all left now," he said as gently as he could. "If you stay here, you'll be helping Majin Buu out, and we won't be able to fight to our full potential if we have to worry about you."

"You leave as well, Amara," Vegeta told his sister. "This isn't the kind of fight you're ready for."

Amara's mouth moved as if she was about to say something, but surprisingly no words came out. Was it because Amara had realized that Vegeta was right? No one knew for sure, but after a moment, the Saiyajin Princess did stalk over to where Juuhachi-gou and the others were standing.

"We understand," Kibitoshin said.

"Good luck to both of you," said Kosumo, bowing.

"Don't get yourselves killed again!" Amara said, still sullen that she wasn't able to take part in the biggest fight of the century.

"Good luck, Vegeta-san and Goku-san," said Dende.

Goku gave them the thumbs up.

Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou then looked at one another. For a moment, Juuhachi-gou regarded him with a hard expression. Then, her visage melted into a genuine smile and she gave him the victory sign.

Vegeta responded with that trademark smirk of his, and returned the gesture.

"Hold on just a minute!" Rou Kaioushin said. "I see what's going on here. You two are trying to get us off this planet, because you know that this planet is going to be destroyed during the fight." Then he smiled. "Ah, well. If it must go, kick some butt."

"Grab a hold of me and Kosumo-san, you guys," Kibitoshin told the others. They obliged, and in the next moment, the group had vanished from view in a blur.

"Well, their gone now," Goku said.

"Good," Vegeta replied. "Now we can fight without worrying about any distractions."

The two Saiyajin warriors then turned around to face Buu, who was still cackling. Tension quickly mounted between them, as the fate of the universe was about to be decided.

Amara's mouth moved as if she was about to say something, but surprisingly no words came out. Was it because Amara had realized that Vegeta was right? No one knew for sure, but after a moment, the Saiyajin Princess did stalk over to where Juuhachi-gou and the others were standing.

"We understand," Kibitoshin said.

"Good luck to both of you," said Kosumo, bowing.

"Don't get yourselves killed again!" Amara said, still sullen that she wasn't able to take part in the biggest fight of the century.

"Good luck, Vegeta-san and Goku-san," said Dende.

Goku gave them the thumbs up.

Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou then looked at one another. For a moment, Juuhachi-gou regarded him with a hard expression. Then, her visage melted into a genuine smile and she gave him the victory sign.

Vegeta responded with that trademark smirk of his, and returned the gesture.

"Hold on just a minute!" Rou Kaioushin said. "I see what's going on here. You two are trying to get us off this planet, because you know that this planet is going to be destroyed during the fight." Then he smiled. "Ah, well. If it must go, kick some butt."

"Grab a hold of me and Kosumo-san, you guys," Kibitoshin told the others. They obliged, and in the next moment, the group had vanished from view in a blur.

"Well, their gone now," Goku said.

"Good," Vegeta replied. "Now we can fight without worrying about any distractions."

The two Saiyajin warriors then turned around to face Buu, who was still cackling. Tension quickly mounted between them, as the fate of the universe was about to be decided.

During all that, however, everyone had forgotten all about a certain man and his dog.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	60. Vegeta's Three Step Plan to Victory

**Disclaimer: Still don't own DBZ or the characters. I just own the original characters in this story.**

**Chapter Sixty: Vegeta's Three-Step Plan To Victory**

* * *

On an uninhabited world, Kibitoshin and his passengers reappeared amidst a sea of tall wheat grass.

"So, where exactly have you brought us?" Rou Kaioushin asked, looking around.

"It's a planet located in the Lower Realm," Kibitoshin explained, "so we're quite faraway from our world."

"I still can't believe I'm here, instead of back of there fighting with them," Amara growled frustratedly, folding her arms.

"But it was for the best," Kosumo said reasonably; the princess turned her smoldering gaze on her. "Since you all decided to forgo Fusion, Goku-san and Vegeta-san are the only ones who can stand up to Majin Buu now. As Goku said, we would only be a liability to them if we remained there. In a battle with such high stakes as the fate of the universe, they need to be focused at all times."

For a moment, Amara looked even angrier about that, but she doesn't say anything. Nearby, Juuhachi-gou heard Kosumo's words, though also didn't comment.

Rou Kaioushin was having a rough time as he tried to navigate through the grass, as it was much taller than he was. He was trying to find a spot where he can sit his crystal ball down so he and the others can watch the battle back on the sacred home world of the Kaioushins. The big possibility that his planet could be obliterated during the fight still dismayed him, but if those Saiyajin could defeat Majin Buu then he wouldn't mind at all. He might be a shameless letch, but even he knew when business was business.

"Honestly, my descendant!" he complained. "Couldn't you have picked a place with less grass?"

Fortunately, he soon came upon an area where the grass was reasonably shorter, and sitting in the center was a conveniently placed gray log. Looking pleased, he sat his crystal ball down on it, and almost at once the emptiness inside the clear orb was filled with the image of Vegeta and Goku staring down their common enemy, Chibi Buu.

"Come over here, everyone!" he called out to the others. "The battle's about to start!"

The others had joined him within a few minutes, gathering around the crystal ball.

"How could those two destroy the Potaras!" griped Rou Kaioushin. "The Saiyajin sure are a stubborn lot."

"Do you think they're going to beat Main Buu?" Dende inquired.

"Who knows?" Rou Kaioushin responded. "Maybe they'll try the type of Fusion those kids used?"

"Somehow, I doubt Prince Vegeta would agree to do the Fusion Pose with Goku-san," Kosumo said, amusement flavoring her voice.

Privately, Juuhachi-gou agreed with her. She knew for a fact that Vegeta would rather stay dead than do the Fusion Pose to join with Goku. Although, Vegeta fighting Buu while fused with Goku sure would make her a lot less uneasy than him fighting that monster alone. It amazed her to know she wanted him to come out this fight okay. But she knew she was only kidding herself. She had start caring for his well-being longer than she wanted to admit.

Turning toward his ancestor, Kibitoshin asked, "Honorable forefather, do you think they have a chance if they do use the regular Fusion technique?"

"Yes, they do," Rou Kaioushin said," and hopefully it'll be enough."

Suddenly, Juuhachi-gou noticed her husband and Goku moving closer together. Juuhchi-gou's eyes widened; was Vegeta actually going do it?

"Hey, they're actually about to do it," she told the others.

Everyone else moved in closer for a better look, all staring in anticipation to see what Vegeta and Goku looked like after doing regular fusion...

Instead of that, they got the two Saiyajin having a contest of jan-ken-pon.

"Huh?" most of them shouted together in surprise.

"That's not the Fusion technique!" said Kibitoshin.

"Those idiots!" Rou Kaioushin exclaimed. "What are they doing? Have they lost their minds?"

"It's simple," Amara said, who was looking rather amused. "We Saiyajin fight alone. Didn't you get that when both Kakarott and Vegeta destroyed those earrings? That's just not our way."

"Argh! You Saiyajin are about to make me go insane!" Rou Kaioushin bellowed, clapping his hands on either side of his head to calm himself down.

Although Kibitoshin could understand how his ancestor felt, at the same time was suffering from the feeling of seeming to have forgotten something.

* * *

A black-haired Vegeta fumed and glared at his rival. He'd lost this round of jan-ken-pon, unfortunately, and as the stipulation was for whoever won, Goku would get the first shot at Buu

"You may have won, Kakarott," Vegeta said, "but there's still the chance I'll get my turn before things are said and done." With that said, the annoyed Vegeta flew off to watch from the sidelines.

*_Be careful of what you wish for, Vegeta,* _Goku thought earnestly. *_I can go a level higher than you as a Super Saiyajin, but I even had doubts about being able to defeat this new Buu in our fight. Since I won't always be around to save the day, I was really hoping the others could stop Buu without me having to.* _His expression suddenly became comically disturbed, and he glanced over at Vegeta. *_Ugh! And I hope he isn't, either. Vegeta being around forever is truly a scary thought.*_

Mercurially, Goku turned completely serious and focused. Whether he liked it or not that the well-being of the universe rested on his shoulders once more. He couldn't let down all the beings who were still alive out there. And he couldn't let down all of the people, and his family and friends, who had died with the Earth, or the Earth itself.

"All right, Buu. I'm ready to finish this," Goku declared.

However, Chibi Buu was unresponsive. He stood motionless several feet away from Goku, his head lowered as if he was watching something that was much more interesting than his opponent.

"Oi, what's the big deal? Goku demanded. "Just what's so interesting down there?

Looking down at the space between Buu's legs he saw nothing at all. Though, as his gaze trailed over Buu, he noticed the demon's eyes were closed and saliva was dripping from his mouth. Buu was sound asleep.

"Aaagh! That bum's fallen asleep on me!" Goku exclaimed, feeling quite affronted. "Damn him!"

For a moment, Goku stood frozen where he stood, staring at Buu in disbelief. He just couldn't wrap his mind around Buu having the audacity to fall asleep on him before they could even start their fight. Then, Goku was reminded of the Earth being annihilated by Buu's attack, along with his sons, Vegeta and Juuhachi-gou's son and his long-time friend Piccolo, and then he thought about his wife Chichi and everyone else who were gone now because of this monster. And Buu had actually fallen asleep because he and Vegeta had bored him by making him wait? It made him even angrier, and he wasn't about to let Buu get away with it!

"No, I won't stand for this!" Goku said fiercely, his Saiyajin blood literally boiling right now. "I won't let this go on any further. He's killed so many innocent people, and including my family and just about all my friends. It stops here, right NOW!" As the last of his monologue increased into a howl, his aura blew up around him, with peals of electricity running through it, the area shaking from his power.

The child Majin was rudely awakened from his impromptu nap, as Goku's power lashed out furiously at him. Noticing that he was awake now, Goku powered down, and the planet became calm again...at least for now, anyway.

Child Buu regarded Goku for moment. Then threw his head back and let out his imitation of a battle cry, beating his fists on his chest. Goku raised a brow at him.

"What is he doing?" Goku wondered.

* * *

"Oh, no!" Kibitoshin suddenly exclaimed, as it just hit him what he had left behind. "I just realized that I forgot that bring that man and his dog with us."

It was then that everyone else realized that Mr. Satan wasn't there, or his dog, Bee.

"I thought he was being a little too quiet," Juuhachi-gou said, scowling.

"That poor dog," Rou Kaioushin said, shaking his head in sympathy.

Dende clapped a hand over his face in shame. "If anything happens to him, it'll be all my fault."

"No, it'll be his fault for being such a idiot," Amara said uncaringly.

"For the sake of Goku-san and Vegeta-san, I hope he doesn't get in there way," Kosumo said.

That prospect worried all of them.

* * *

Mr. Satan started to come to. Just as soon as he sit up, however, he heard laughter over the cliff. The insanity it echoed with was familiar. An idea of who it was coming from came to him, and quickly, he scrambled up a incline and looked behind a rock. Satan gasped when he saw Chibi Buu standing several yards away from him and Goku. Mr. Satan started shaking in alarm.

"It's him! Majin Buu's here!" he said dismayingly. "If that monster's here, then this is a dream! It must be!"

Just then, something grabbed a hold of his pants leg and started trying to pull him downward. Looking around, his expression brightened into a wide smile when he saw it was only his dog.

"Ah, Bee-chan!" Mr. Satan exclaimed happily. "There you are, boy!"

Reaching down, Mr. Satan gathered his friend into his arms, who licked his face happily in greeting. Due to the smooth surface of the slope he was sitting on, Mr. Satan and Bee went sliding down back to the bottom.

The ultimate battle finally commenced when Goku attacked first, landing a blow right in Buu's face. Though, even then Buu continued to pound his chest. Spurred on by that, Goku kicked him in the back of his head, sending him crashing into the side of a rock formation. Buu still beat his chest even then. Unsurprisingly, Buu managed to land right on his feet without any damage on him. Goku was quickly on Buu once more. Buu tried to catch him with a ki blast but Goku sidestepped it and buried a knee into the planet destroyer's gut. As the demon doubled, Goku struck again with a elbow on the back of his head, then followed by a kick in the same spot. Moving back around Buu, Goku kicked him in the face, though that only made Buu budge a little bit.

Becoming annoyed, Buu growled up at at the golden warrior, who floated over him smirking. Then, Goku gathered power in his hands and hurled it at the Majin, enveloping him completely. Chibi Buu screamed before vanishing from sight.

"Yeah, boy! He did it!" Mr. Satan cheered. "He got rid of Majin Buu!"

As he watched from a distance, Vegeta wasn't so quick to get be excited. He knew better.

Back down on the battlefield, as the smoke finally dispersed, it was revealed that a huge crater had been left behind in its wake. Near the rim of the crater, Goku stood in wait, as he knew better as well to not believe that Buu was so easily destroyed. Sadly, he was proven right, as Chibi Buu was reforming himself back into a whole being. When that had happened, he laughed madly down at his adversary.

"Well isn't that superb?" Vegeta said sarcastically.

Goku was about to go after Buu again, when Buu suddenly appeared right in front of him. Surprised, Goku wasn't able to block a hard right from the monster. Buu tried for a ki blast but Goku matched him blast for blast, and the two beams exploded against each other, setting the ground on fire. Goku tried to leap back but Buu caught up to him and slammed his head into the Saiyajin's. Just as Buu went for another punch, Goku recovered and threw a punch out at Buu simultaneously; Goku's fist collided into Buu's gut, while Buu's fist collided into Goku's face.

Back and forth the Saiyajin and the Majin exchanged blows, seeming evenly matched. In spite of that though, both Goku and Chibi Buu were actually having a rather good time.

Explosions after explosions went off as the fight abruptly degenerated into a ki blast war. Mr. Satan and Bee stood in the face of a raging fire. Even though he could really feel the intense heat of the flames on his skin, Mr. Satan's brain still refused to let him believe that all of this wasn't short of a dream.

"Ah! When is this dream going to end already?" Mr. Satan exclaimed.

When the fire dispersed from in front of him, Vegeta still had the expression of just biting into a very sour lemon, as he watched the battle continue on.

Goku caught a ki blast from Buu and the beam pushed Goku backwards a few feet before he threw it up into space. The child demon started to craft another beam when Goku charged him again, however, he re-thought it and reabsorbed his energy. He let his enemy get a little closer, before he actually jabbed his right foot into the ground and caught Goku with a kick from all the way where he was. Buu did again, but Goku was prepared this time and dodged every time Buu tried that tactic. The next time the demon tried that, Goku leaped off Buu's foot and charged at them, catching him with a kick. Goku couldn't get away completely as Buu caught him by his leg and slammed him into the ground. As Goku got back up to his feet, Buu threw another ki blast at him. Goku crossed his arms in a ki-block, but the energy blast exploded around him.

When the smoke cleared, Goku raised his hands to the air for an attack, so Buu lunged with his right fist extended. Upon reaching the Saiyain warrior, Buu missed, but that was what he wanted. As he went flying passed Goku, his forelock extended outand wrapped itself around Goku's neck. Easily lifting the Saiyajin into the air, Buu started spinning the warrior around and around in the air.

"Bakemono!" Mr. Satan said. "I know this is a dream, but I still don't want Buu to win. Tear him apart blonde dude!"

Mr. Satan wouldn't get his request right now, as Buu just threw the warrior into the side of a mesa. Buu pursued his prey and touched down atop of the mesa, staring down at the tear Goku's crash-landing had caused. When he didn't see the warrior anywhere, Buu started beating his chest in triumph again.

Vegeta stared down at Buu as if he'd just lost what little mind he had. *_Fool. Does he really think he's gotten rid of Kakarott so easily? If so, well he's in for a surprise.* _

Sure enough, Buu did get a surprise, when his victory 'dance' was interrupted by the sudden widen on the mesa he was on, forcing him into a split and his legs to stretch out impossibly far. In-between the torn mesa, Goku shouted defiantly as he pushed the broken rock formation from him on both sides. Not able to take the pressure too longer, the mesa shattered into rubble.

When the smoke cleared, Chibi Buu was hovering in the air, his fists stopped in midair. Abruptly, he vanished. Goku saw this and quickly got on guard.

"All right, time for plan B," he said, although it sounded as if he was trying to inject confidence into his own vioce. "Whatever that is."

Majin Buu reappeared over the planet. Then, with a grin that promised nothing but evil intentions, Buu took a sharp dive. He came barrelling earthward at breakneck speed, aiming straight for his enemy. Goku had tried to prepare himself for the wicked creature, but when they collided...

A huge sphere of ki erupted out of the ground, sending out huge shockwaves that dissected the earth into sections and shaking the very planet. Mr. Satan stood frozen on the very spot of ground he'd been standing on, with Bee standing on his back. His dream was really starting to head towards a complete nightmare. Even Vegeta was having trouble keeping his balance on the shaking cliff he was standing on.

"I hope they're having fun, because I'm not," Vegeta griped.

As the ball of white light finally vanished, Goku and Buu could be seen with their fists plunged in each other's faces. The two then leapt away from one another.

Chibi Buu started laughing insanely, as a horrible idea came to him. Raising his hands into the air, Chibi Buu started to gather power, forming a semi-large ki blast. Goku stared at him questioningly.

"What is he up to?" Goku wondered. But then he shook his head. "On second thought, I better not wait to find out."

So saying, Goku accumulated power, then flung it at Buu. However, just as it got a hairsbreadth of the child demon, the gold-white blast stopped for a split-second, then it curved upward and flew straight into the energy ball, causing it to expand. Laughing, Buu threw the attack at the Saiyajin. Hurriedly, Goku threw his hands out to block the attack. He struggled against it for a few minutes, before deciding to just send the ki ball into outer space.

There was a reason the evil grin never left Buu's face. For as soon as the ki ball went into space, he directed it to curve around the planet and make a return trip. Looking up, Goku saw the attack coming and nimbly leaped to the side, and just in time as Buu's energy attack hit the ground. Instead of tearing a gaping hole into the ground like one would expect from such an enormous attack, it surprisingly left no damage behind-well, not anymore to the ground, anyway. Due to Buu's attack, the entire planet had darkened, and the sky had turned into a ominous shade of pink.

Majin Buu cackled triumphantly at his handiwork.

"Hey, why is it so dark all of sudden?" Mr. Satan wondered, alarmed.

Unimpressed by it all was Vegeta. "All right, Kakarott. Where are you?"

In the next moment, the world turned a shade lighter, but still not as bright as it one was. Lightning crackled across the dark sky, it's continual flashing adding a dramatic touch to the battle going on down below, as it highlighted the two warriors. Suddenly, the ground started to split once more. Mr. Satan was in a even worse situation, as the splitting ground was forcing his legs to go in two directions while he tried to hold his puppy at the same time. Rock structures either crumbled in debris or rose high into the air, creating unnatural rock structures.

"Huh?" Buu said, when he saw a patch of the terrain being pulled shut into itself, and darkened to a sickly brown color. Buu stared at it a moment longer, before erupting in that crazy laughter of his at all the chaos he'd just caused.

All over the planet, parts of the ground did the same exact thing; if one could see the Kaioushin Realm from an outside perspective at the moment, they could see the ugly spots that now decorated the planet.

Mr. Satan was cowering on the earth with Bee, wishing feverishly for this dream to end right now.

Up on the cliff he was standing on, Goku glared at the look of smugness on Buu's face across from him. But even the Saiyajin would admit that Buu had a right to be smug as powerful as he was.

"Damn you," he growled. "You're twice as strong as last time. In speed and in power. Well, I've got to get stronger, too!"

With that said, Goku drew his head backward and screamed, rising into the air and summoning up more power.

Vegeta watched on with grudging admiration. "It's time to see what a Super Saiyajin Three can really do."

While it infuriated him to no end that Kakarott had surpassed him again in power, to himself, he would admit it was at least good that one of them could go a step further. They were going to need all the power they could get to beat Majin Buu.

Once his transformation had been completed, Goku touched back down on the cliff, an abundance of electricity ran through the golden fire of his aura. Despite his dangerous appearance, Buu wasn't bothered by Goku's transformation in the least. In fact, something in the sky seemed to have caught his eyes and interested him a lot more than his enemy. Goku smirked; it was a terrible smirk, one of true Saiyain joy. He would show Buu.

"All right, Buu," he said, his voice low and fierce. "Let's see what you'e really made of."

That got Buu's attention. Chibi Buu erupted in insane laughter once more, as if Goku had just told him some big joke.

Down below, Satan and Bee peered over the rock they were hiding behind. The World Champion's eyes widened when he immediately noticed Goku's altered appearance.

"That guy has changed again," he said. "And wow, look at all that hair on him!"

Back on the cliff, an annoyed Vegeta was making his way back near the edge after losing his balance and falling over during all the chaos. How embarrassing! He was at least glad no one saw him falling like a clumsy idiot.

Abruptly, Chibi Buu was gone. Faster than even Goku could see, Buu crossed the gap between them and punched him off the cliff, sending the warrior backflipping through the air before he caught himself. Goku charged back in, meeting a lunging Buu midway. And when they collided it created another shockwave so powerful, that it turned the whole planet another shade darker. Meanwhile, Goku and Buu continued their seesaw battle. Goku had the advantage briefly, but a distraction in the form of Buu's forelock wrapping around Goku's throat turned things around in Buu's favor. After knocking Goku away, Buu moved in to follow up, but Goku reflexively caught the advancing monster with a strong blast of energy. When the smoke cleared, the remains of Buu could be seen floating lazily around in the air. Well, that was before Buu regenerated back to normal. Almost anyway, as while he was while he was whole again, his body was upside down and his head was on the wrong end of his body.

Goku smirked in dry amusement. "Don't be in such a rush, this fight is only getting started."

Buu's response to the insult was a angry growl. He then straightened out the problem by pulling his head back inside his body, where it emerged on the correct part. Still hanging upside down, Buu drifted back over to Goku and the vicious dance quickly started all over.

Mr. Satan was now wishing he had decided the space beneath some cliffs as a hiding place for him and Bee, as rocks from the ceiling started to rain down. Soon it stopped, and Satan pulled from underneath the rubble, then Bee, telling him assurances that they were all right, and being the great hero of Earth, he would be sure to protect him. Then a large rock came loose and fell atop of the champion's head, knocking him out cold. Bee moaned worriedly at him.

Goku moved near the rim of the gaping crater that had formed after he and Buu's landing.

"W-where are you, Buu?" he wondered.

Abruptly, the scarred ground started to shake.

"What da?" Goku said, then almost immediately he realized that this was Buu's doing, and leaped onto another part of the ground. He wouldn't put it pass the little devil at all to try and sneak attack him, but he was going to be ready. When the ground started rocking again, Goku went somewhere else, and this went on until Majin Buu exploded out of the earth behind him, sending the Saiyajin flying across the ground, where he was buried underneath some debris. Picking himself out from beneath the rocks, Goku looked upward where he saw Majin Buu, who unfurled himself, laughing in amusement.

_*Dammit! Not even at Super Saiyajin Three can I keep up with his movements!*_ Goku thought. _*He's able to read every movement I'm going to make!*_

_*That miserable Majin Buu! HE has terrifying strength...* _Vegeta remarked. Looking down at Kakarott and realizing the same thing his rival had, he said, _*And Kakarott won't last much longer.*_

Like quicksilver, Buu turned serious. He seemed to briefly consider something, before diving towards Goku swiftly.

"It's all or nothing!" Goku said fatalistically. "This ain't the time to be thinking about exhausting my power!"

Drawing himself back into a familiar pose and cupping his hands at his side, Goku said, "Kame...hame...HAAAA!"

The blue-white beam hurled into the air and caught Buu head on, completely engulfing him. Goku wasn't able to even see what had happened to Buu, as he dropped to the ground on his hands and knees to catch his breath. Goku's eyes flew widened, as his senses went on full alert. Lifting his head, Goku watched as the remains of Buu morphed into many, many Majin Buus this time.

Simultaneously, all the Majin Buus started bombarding Goku with ki bolts. Nearly depleted of his energy, Goku could only try to shield himself with hsi arms. Being dead so long, he'd forgotten it wasn't wise for a breathing, living person to spend themselves so hard unless necessary. Well, this was a necessary time. He was about to gather more power, when all of a sudden, the last of his remaining energy waned and he turned back into his black-haired state. He then promptly passed out on the ground in utter exhaustion.

"Kakarott!" Vegeta exclaimed.

When his rival remained motionless on the ground, Vegeta flew down to where he was, alighting on the ground beside him.

"Kakarott, it's time to switch out!" he said. The barely-perceptible tension in his body left when Goku started moving. "You rest for a bit!"

"V-Vegeta...he has...ridiculous strength..." Goku warned weakly. Lifting his head he added, "You need to be prepared!"

Vegeta stared down at him for a moment, before responding, "I know."

Spinning around, Vegeta glared up at the laughing Majin Buus with angry determination. Flinging his head back, Vegeta let out a howl as he summoned power.

* * *

On Rou Kaioushin's crystal ball, Amara and Juuhachi-gou watched as they saw Vegeta prepare for battle.

"Looks like Vegeta's up to bat now," Amara murmured.

*_Watch yourself, Vegeta,* _Juuhachi-gou said to herself.

* * *

Rising, Vegeta flew right into the center of the swarm of Chibi Buus. The Chibi Buus instantly lunged at the Saiyajin Prince and converged on him at once. It was that way for a second, before Vegeta sent the Majins scattering in every direction by his very own power. Thrusting his arms out, Vegeta performed his Renzoku Energy Dan on Buu and his facsimiles, incinerating them all. Afterwards, while Vegeta breathed heavily with exertion, he kept himself alert as he knew he hadn't just killed the true Buu just then.

Momentarily, the true Chibi Majin Buu reformed himself back in front of Vegeta's eyes, grinning. He then burst into crazy laughter. Before Vegeta could even react, Majin Buu launched a ki blast on the prince, sending him sailing.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried, helpless as Chibi Buu began to completely assault Vegeta.

Luckily, Vegeta managed to get away from Buu's barrage of offense by dematerializing and rematerializing behind him. Turning around, instead of going after Vegeta, Majin Buu tauntingly gyrated his hips at him. The Prince looked affronted.

"What?" he bellowed, outraged. "He's toying with me! Damn him! I am the warrior Saiyajin Prince, Vegeta-sama!"

Furious, Vegeta rushed towards Buu and swung at him with a roundhouse punch. Buu easily sidesteps. Vegeta swings at him again and again, and Buu bypasses both those with ease as well. However, Buu wasn't expecting for Vegeta to add a ki blast into the mix and suffered for it as his lower body was burned off. Not fazed by it, Buu just simply regenerated another lower body. The same thing happened again and a third time, and Chibi Buu regenerated yet another lower body both times.

Vegeta gritted his teeth in frustration, his breath becoming ragged as fatigue started to come over him as well.

"Bastard! This is having no effect at all!" he said.

With a horrible laugh, Buu twisted his body around and then lashed out all the way through the gap between them and kicked Vegeta in the stomach. Reeling himself in, Buu smashed his head into Vegeta's. Vegeta went smashing into the side of a cliff, his body leaving a dent.

Vegeta gnashed his teeth, as pain wracked his body. When he opened his eyes, his whole body froze up when he saw Chibi Buu floating right in front of him, grinning that unhinged grin of his. Being face-to-face with the evil Majin, the cold, hard truth hit him in the face like a slap. He stood no chance against this Majin Buu whatsoever; he was completely out of his league in this battle.

*_I-I'm no match for him...* _he admitted to himself. *_I'm no match for him like Kakarott was...!* _

As if those words had been some silent cue, Buu started to drift backwards. Stopping a little distance away, Buu stretched out his hands and prepared to deliver the final blow. Vegeta's eyes widened in genuine fear, as he saw himself facing death for a third time. His body was so paralyzed, he couldn't even try to flee. Buu was about to attack-

-and Goku came out of nowhere and slammed his shoulder into Chibi Buu, sending him flying.

"Kakarott!" Vegeta said in surprise.

"Switch out, Vegeta," Goku said. "Majin Buu is strong. Stronger than anyone else I've ever fought before. But I ain't lost yet!"

Vegeta stared wide-eyed at his rival, as he punctuated his words by transforming into a Super Saiyajin, and going back in to fight Buu some more. Upon getting closer to him, Goku transformed into a Super Saiyajin Two and finally back to Super Saiyajin Three. With a battle cry, Goku thrust his hands out and sent Buu rocking backwards with energy waves. To stop himself as he sailed through the air, Buu expanded his body weight like a kite. While Buu dove back in at Goku and the two engaged in another mid-air brawl, Vegeta had landed back on the ground and stared up at the two in amazement. No- to be precise, he was staring at Goku in amazement.

_*You are one incredible guy, Kakarott,* _Vegeta realized. _*I was absolutely no match for Majin Buu. You're the only one who can fight him.* _Vegeta reflected on his first meeting with the other Saiyajin._*You've always been like this, ever since that first battle that took place a decade ago. You're always ready to meet any challenge that comes your way, even if that challenge may be bigger than you are. It was the same on Nameksei. You had improved so much, that you made Rikum seem as if he was standing still. Your power had increase so much that I thought...I thought you had actually done it...I'd thought you'd actually been able to become a Super Saiyajin...and it tore me apart inside. How was it that mere upstart peasant could easily accomplish something that I, the Prince, had been struggling to accomplish all my life? Something I'd dreamed of ever since I was a small boy. *_

_*Then, at last, it had happened to me, too...I had finally transformed. After living every moment in every day for the singular purpose of surpassing you, I finally became a Super Saiyajin myself. The Prince had reclaimed his throne, and his destiny. But no matter how much stronger I always got, you always one step ahead of me, and I was always having to try and catch up to you. At first I thought it was because of your loved ones, your instincts to protect them that spurred you on and pushed you beyond your boundaries. But then, when I had found a family of my own...my power didn't increase at all, and it infuriated me." _

_*I used to fight for the sheer pleasure of it, for the thrill of the hunt. I showed no mercy at all. But you actually show mercy, even to your fiercest enemies; even me. Yet, you've never fought to kill or revenge, only to test your limits and push yourself beyond them to become the strongest you can be. As I watch you now, I still can't understand how any Saiyajin can be in a battle, yet be so gentle he wouldn't even trample over a flower. It makes me angry just thinking about...hm, perhaps it's my anger that has made me so blind all these years. The truth has been in front of my face all this time, but I never wanted to see, though I do now. Hang in there, Kakarott. You are...Number One!* _

As he said that, all of the jealousy and hatred he'd harbored towards the younger man for over a decade now, crumbled away like rocks into dust. Appearing in its place was a newfound respect for Kakarott. Of course, he wouldn't tell his rival that anytime soon.

Just then, Chibi Buu had curved himself around and slammed the back of his head into Goku's face. Backing away, the Majin cupped his hands at his side and turned his body halfway around. Goku gawped at the horrifyingly familiar position Buu was in.

"That's Kakarott's Kamehameha Wave," Vegeta said, sounding dismayed.

In unintelligible words, Chibi Buu fired the Kamehameha Wave bolt right at its original owner. Hurriedly, Goku threw his arms out in a ki block but it was of no use, as the blue-white beam pushed him into the earth and exploded. Light, fire, and smoke filled the air, forcing Vegeta to put an arm out in front of him to shield his eyes. Meanwhile, poor Mr. Satan was hanging onto a rock for dear life, while Bee did the same to his shirt.

"T-this is a considerably powerful dream!" he shouted over the commotion. Just then, a passing rock came out of nowhere and slammed right into Mr. Satan's face, causing him to let go the only thing that was keeping him anchored. He yowled in pain, as he and his dog were sent flying.

A short while later, the light and the fire went away, leaving on the smoke behind as it was taking its slow time to disperse. Up in the air, Chibi Buu was chortling, as he knew the man with the funny hair couldn't have survived that. He had won. But then, he heard something that surprised him.

"Kame...hame...HAAAA!" The bellow came from behind the remaining curtain of smoke, and was proceeded by a huge beam.

Laughing nastily, Chibi Buu tried to deflect the blast with a double sledge, however, the beam hit him full on and kept onward and upward towards space. When the smoke cleared from around Buu, it was revealed that his right hand was missing, and so was left side of his upper body. Below, where he stood when Majin Buu had hit him with his own technique, Goku stood with his hand still cupped together out in front of him, breathing in exertion.

"Stupid punk!" Goku said. "Now that was how you do a genuine Kamehame-Ha."

Chibi Buu glared down at Goku furiously. Concentrating, Buu replaced the missing parts.

"This is just ridiculous," Goku said. "This fight of ours is going nowhere and fast!"

Observing from his vantage point, Vegeta had come to the same conclusion. *_If this keeps up, Kakarott and I will be old in gray by the time one of them manages to beat the other. This must end today, but how? No matter hard we look, Buu doesn't seem to have any noticeable weakness. And if we can somehow find that, then we got him!* _But Vegeta knew that was easier than said.

While Super Saiyajin Three was quite the handy trick, and helped Goku fight Buu on his level, Vegeta knew it couldn't last. He would tire again, and while he still had some trouble admitting it even to himself, if Kakarott wasn't in shape to fight, then he certainly wouldn't be able to improve things.

_*No matter how hard Kakarott fights Buu, it's all futile,* _Vegeta thought angrily. _*Buu doesn't seem to get exhausted at all, and can regenerate himself if he gets badly injured, but no such thing for Kakarott or myself. This was preposterous! Kakarott and I can't do this alone...we need...we need help,* _he realized.

Just then, Goku touched down and placed a hand on the head of a half-buried Buu, he fired a blast of energy; the beam tore right through Chibi Buu and through the ground. Goku moved away from the crater he blasted Buu into, breathing heavily. He was gradually starting to lose stamina, but he persevered and didn't let it get to him. He couldn't get tired again, and he wouldn't do so before he destroyed Majin Buu first. Even after the close-range attack, he knew Buu wasn't destroyed just yet.

So, he wasn't completely fazed by the least, when a pink, tiny hand suddenly shot out of the earth and pulled Goku downward. Majin Buu was waiting for his adversary in the middle of an underground cavern. Once Goku was down there with him, his hand still locked on tight around the warriors ankle, Buu started cruelly slamming him into stalactites and stalagmites, before finally just throwing him down onto the merciless ground. Buu reeled his arm back in to gloat down at the Saiyajin.

With a grunt, Goku sat up and looked up at the Majin, but surprisingly there was no malice in his expression after all this.

"You're strong!" Goku commended. "Stronger than I ever gave you credit for."

Chibi Buu laughed; even planet destroyers were susceptible to flattery.

"Gonna kill you!" Buu crowed.

"If I had known things would turn out like this," Goku said, as he rose to his feet. Wiping the blood off his mouth, he lowered back into the fighting stance. "I should have finished you off for good when I had become Vegetto. But no matter what, I can't afford to lose!"

On that note, the two lunged back in to battle. The two fought in the cavern for quite a while, before a ki blast took Buu above ground again but in many pieces. As Goku flew out of the cavern and back into the outside world, the sections of Buu started to converge together, forming a big mass of pink goo though Buu seemed to be taking his time in reforming himself.

*_Probably because he knows my attacks aren't having any effect on him, anymore,* _Goku thought dryly. A little more seriously, he said, "What in the hell is going on here?

"Kakarott." Goku turned around when he heard Vegeta's voice. He didn't even hear or sense the prince approach him.

"What is it, Vegeta?" Goku asked. "You want to switch with me again? Let me go a little bit longer!"

"Ha. No you don't," Vegeta responded, though his voice was surprisingly lacking malice. "You don't plan on switching with me at all. That's because you know better than anyone that I'm no match for Majin Buu. Majin Buu would kill me all over again."

"Er, no, that's not..."

"Hmph, don't patronize me," Vegeta warned, his voice sound a tad clipped. "I know what you're trying to do, so don't even try. I had my chance, I fought him, and he tore me up. So you can't fool me. I see the truth, and as do you. We both now Majin Buu is far stronger than me. At this level of power, I'm nowhere near his league. Or yours."

"Vegeta..." Goku said, staring at Vegeta in quiet amazement. He had never thought he'd ever see the day when Vegeta come out and openly admit that he was weaker than him.

"So don't hold back on my account, finish him off!" Vegeta told him, clenching his right fist. "With your Super Saiyajin Three there, if you gather as much ki as you can, you should be able to completely obliterate Buu!"

"Yeah, I've been thinking of doing for a while now, but I just ain't had the chance," Goku admitted.

Vegeta looked at him in surprise.

"Here I am trying to obliterate him, but I have to gather ki for about a whole minute," Goku said irritably.

"One minute?" Vegeta repeated.

As they looked back over at Buu, both the Saiyajin sweatdropped at finding Buu gyrating his hips in a wacky dance.

"Damn him," said Goku. "He's over there having the time of his life. I don't believe this!"

"If you have one minute, you can gather enough ki to annihilate him, right?" Vegeta asked.

"Y-yeah...If I had a minute that is..."

Goku looked at Vegeta in surprise, when the Saiyajin Prince drifted him front of him.

"All right, then. I'll keep him in check somehow for one minute," Vegeta said. "You start gathering your ki immediately!"

"V-Vegeta...You're going to keep in him check somehow? That's crazy! I told you that it would take a whole minute in order to gather enough ki to wipe him out, right!"

"Is there any other way, Kakarott?" Vegeta asked, briefly glancing at him out the corner of his eye before turning back to Majin Buu. "Any other way to beat him?"

"W-well..."

"In that case, stop your useless worrying and hurry up and gather that ki!" Vegeta snapped. "I'll buy you that one minute. I'll stake my pride on it."

Goku regarded Vegeta for a time. He then smiled, and said, "Understood. I'm counting on you, Vegeta!" Goku drew up beside him. "Listen, Vegeta, in your state, you're already once dead. Do you know what happens to someone like you if you die again? They vanish. In both this world, and the Other World, you will no longer exist."

For a second, Vegeta's dark eyes shifted sidelong and met Goku's blue-green ones.

Vegeta smirked. "Hmph. Mind your own business."

With those words said, Vegeta drifted away from Goku.

"All right, here I go," Vegeta said, mostly to himself. Hunching over a bit, summoning up power, he transformed into a Super Saiyajin.

As Vegeta howled a battle cry and charged off to fight, Goku screamed and gathered power as well.

Noticing Vegeta approaching, Majin Buu stop dancing, but he wasn't fast enough to evade the ki blast Vegeta promptly threw at him, blasting off his lower body. Vegeta continued tossing even more ki blasts into the fray.

"That's great, Vegeta," Goklu commended as he watched Vegeta continue in his barrage against Buu. "If we're lucky, he just might keep up like this for one minute."

As if he'd heard the younger man, Vegeta's attack increased in ferocity. His ki blasts showered down viciously down on his tiny enemy, keeping him pinned down. Or so he thought. While he was so engrossed in trying to keep his end of the bargain, Vegeta didn't noticed familiar pieces of pink goo rising up behind him, colliding into each other to slowly but surely form one big pink goo. Then it transmuted back into an all-too familiar being. Clasping his hands together, Buu dove down at the Saiyajin Prince.

"Huh?" Vegeta said, as he realized something was coming from behind him. But even as he looked up, he couldn't dodge in time as Buu slammed a double-clasped punch into Vegeta's back, sending him flying towards the earth.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried, alarmed.

Reflexively, Vegeta landed on his hands and knees. He wasn't even allowed to fully recover before Buu appeared right in front of him and kicked him square in the face, sending flying over the ground. Vegeta tried to flip over and stop himself, but Buu tunnelled his way out of the earth behind the Prince and delivered a vicious kick to Vegeta's spine, causing the Prince to spit out blood. Swiftly reappearing in front of Vegeta, Buu dealt him further punishment with a headbutt. Following up, Kid Buu leapt up then came back down by stomp on Vegeta's face/head hard, driving it into the earth. Leaping away, Buu laughed insanely as he regarded his handiwork on Vegeta.

Up above, Goku stared down at Vegeta worriedly. "_Come on, Vegeta, Just a little bit longer. I know you can do it." _He breathed a tiny sigh of relief when he saw Vegeta trying to struggle back up to his feet.

"Come on, Vegeta," Vegeta said, trying to ignore the fierce pain he was feeling and will himself back into this fight. "Just little more."

After a long time, Vegeta finally managed to get to his feet. He spun on his heel and walked back towards Buu, stopping a small distance away from him.

"You're going to wish you hadn't done that," Vegeta menaced, not caring if he really couldn't go on with that threat.

Buu seemed to be well aware of that, as he crooked a finger at the battered Prince. That only added fuel to Vegeta's anger, as he powered up again. With another war cry, Vegeta flew at Buu again, but before he reached he vanished. As Buu turned around, Vegeta greeted him with a harsh right. Vegeta dealt him a couple of more blows but Majin Buu dodged the next one, then caught Vegeta in the chin with a vicious kick. As Vegeta went flying through the air, Buu decided to make his eventual landing on the ground quicker by smashing a double sledge into Vegeta's gut, causing him to hit the earth jarringly.

Goku could only watch this from afar, shocked and horrified.

All watching through Rou Kaioushin's crystal stared with similar expressions, though none looked as dismayed as Juuhachi-gou

Touching back down on the chewed up ground, Buu leaned in for a closer look at the fallen Saiyajin Prince. He looked to be completely unconscious. Majin Buu started laughing. While this opponent hadn't been nowhere nearly as fun as the person with the crazy, big hair had been, it was still nice to get the chance to hurt and kill someone else. Speaking of the other...

Turning around, Chibi Buu looked directly up at Goku. Goku stiffened.

"Oh, no! I'm not ready!" Goku complained. He growled through gnashed teeth when Buu started walking towards him.

"And...just where the hell do you think you're going?" demanded a familiar brusque voice behind Buu.

"Vegeta!" Goku exclaimed in relief.

Sure enough, Vegeta was struggling back to his feet again. Once he was, he started to slowly advance on the demon.

"Are you thinking of running way...you miserable coward?" Vegeta taunted.

Chibi Buu spun his head around to glare at the Prince. Vegeta grinned that trademark cruel smirk of his, glad he'd hit a nerve in the creature.

"Hurry up and come at me!" Vegeta sneered, crooking his finger. "Come on, what's the mater! You're the mighty Majin Buu, right? Or are you afraid of me?"

His words infuriated the short Majin. Unable to stand the insults any longer, Buu charged at Vegeta, with the intentions to actually kill him this time. But Vegeta didn't seem worried at all.

"That's it," Vegeta murmured. "Come closer."

When Buu did get closer, on cue, Vegeta raised his hand and fold his thumb back

"BIG BANG...ATTACK!" he shouted, firing a huge blast of green energy.

Instead of letting Vegeta's blast hit him this time, Buu actually dodged it by splitting his stomach into a large hole, which caused the energy orb to go flying through and passed its intended target, hitting a rock structure in the background instead. While Vegeta swore at missing, Buu took advantage by plunging a harsh fist into the side of Vegeta's face, and Majin Buu proceeded to unleash another furious barrage on Vegeta.

"A little longer," Goku said. "Just a little longer! Hang on, Vegeta!"

A cry of pain emanated from Vegeta's mouth, as he was hit in the face point-blank range by a ki blast from Buu.

* * *

"Enough of this!" Everyone looked at Amara after her declaration. In the next instant, everyone there except for Juuhachi-gou were forced to shield their eyes when the Saiyajin Princess suddenly transformed. When the rest of them could see again, the saw the Princess glowing with the furious power of a Super Saiyajin, and she looked coldly angry.

"Amara?" Kosumo said questioningly.

Looking straight at Kibitoshin and Kosumo, Amara said, "One of you, teleport me back to your planet. Now!"

"What!" The Kaioushins and Dende coursed in surprise. Juuhachi-gou stared wide-eyed at her rival.

"You heard me!" Amara said. "Vegeta and Kakarott need some help!"

"But it would do no good," Kibitoshin told her. "You're not as strong as those two are, and if they can't stop Majin Buu, then sadly you can't do it either."

Amara glared wrathfully at the fused god. "Well, I have to try something, dammit! I can't just sit here and continue to watch this!"

"We understand how you feel," Kosumo said gently, "but there's nothing we can do, except hope that things will work for the best."

Amara growled in frustration, about just ready to force either Kibitoshin or Kosumo to take her back to their world.

Dende gasped loudly in surprise as he noticed something on the crystal ball.

"I-incredible! Vegeta-san is back up again!"

All eyes immediately turned back to the clear orb. Sure enough Vegeta was back up on his feet again, glaring at the Majin furiously, blood spilling down his face.

Relief creeped into Juuhachi-gou's worried expression.

While seeing this did make the tension in Amara ease a little, she didn't power down because she still knew Vegeta and Goku needed her help. No matter what two Kaioushin and Kosumo said.

* * *

"Y-you can't kill me...with a wimpy attack like that...!" Vegeta said.

Majin Buu was staring at Vegeta as if he'd realized he was dealing with something he never expected, as the Prince was standing right in front of him, holding his left hand while actually trying to advance on him.

"After all, I'm already dead once!" Vegeta told Buu.

Buu's shock was soon replaced with fury, veins bulging at the sides of his head.

"Damned if I'm going to be done away by the likes of you! I am the Prince of all Saiyajin...Vegeta!" He punctuated his words by transforming back into a Super Saiyajin.

Goku was wondering the same thing, as he stared down at himself. "How can this be? It's been one minute...I can't wipe out Buu with only this much ki!"

Below, Vegeta had went on the attack again, swinging a punch at Buu but Buu caught the fist. Vegeta tried with the other fist but that was caught, too. The two jockeyed for position, the force of their strengths starting to make the ground cave in beneath them. And then Majin Buu kicked Vegeta way and up into the air. Before Vegeta could hit the ground again, Buu stretched out his arm and caught Vegeta around the throat tightly, making it hard for the Prince to breathe.

Vegeta bellowed in pain as Buu punched him into the ground with an expanded fist, creating another crater into the already damaged terrain.

"Vegeta!" Goku cried. He started to lower out of the sky to check on his fellow Senshi, when...

"Stay...back!" Vegeta demanded. Slowly, astonishingly, Vegeta pulled himself out of the crater and into a sitting position. Goku stared in awe. While he was bruised all over as Goku himself was, and was breathing heavily, Vegeta looked all right. "Stay back! Of all the...Who is it you think I'm going through all this trouble for! You just hurry and gather your ki!"

Goku looked contrite. How could he tell Vegeta that he wasn't ready yet?

Chibi Buu saved him having the trouble of doing so, when he suddenly plunged his fist into the ground, and it exploded out of it, wrapping around Vegeta's throat and hoisting him into the air. Buu grinned wickedly as he mercilessly choked the Saiyajin Prince; in his other hand, Buu formed a ki blast, a ki blast that would destroy Vegeta once and for all.

"No!" Goku yelled, getting even more worried at the blank look of pain on Vegeta's face, and him transforming back into his natural state. "I can't let Buu hit him with that ki blast. One that powerful would definitely destroy Vegeta. Forget this waiting, I've got to go save him."

Goku was about save him, when...

"Buu!" At the same time, both Chibi Buu and Goku looked in the direction the familiar voice had come from. To be honest, neither looked especially pleased to see Mr. Satan. "I watch on silently, and you get carried way with yourself! Did you think that the world combat sports champion Mr. Satan-sama would quietly overlook your brutality!"

Mr. Satan threw out a few punches, and then he leaps into the air, turning a front flip before landing closer toward Chibi Buu and Vegeta. The short Majin grinned fiendishly at him.

"I'm going to punish you myself! Prepare yourself!" Mr. Satan declared. He gave Buu the thumbs-down. "You will soon regret having an opponent you can't deal with!"

"We really didn't need this!" Goku growled, shocked Mr. Satan was still on the planet to begin with. "He should have just quietly stayed in hiding!"

Seeing that there was fresh prey in front of him, Chibi Buu promptly dropped Vegeta onto the ground as if he was trash. No, killing the irritating man who interrupted him was. Returning his arm to its normal size, the demon turned around to regard Mr. Satan stonily,. Straightening his shirt, Mr. Satan walked bravely towards the diminutive planet destroyer, and soon the two were standing face-to-face.

Chibi Buu suddenly looked up at the man dubiously, and Mr. Satan grinned.

_*He's nervous, he's nervous!* _Mr. Satan thought.

Encouraged by that, Satan lowered himself down to Buu's face level taunt him with several funny faces. Adding more insult, Mr. Satan wagged his rear around in Buu's face as well, and slapped it a couple of times, telling Buu to kiss him there. Buu grew progressively annoyed as the annoying man backflipped away from him, landing several yards away from him so he can mock him from a distance now.

"Yo, yo, yo!" Satan called. "What's the matter? Hurry up and come get me! Or are you afraid of Mr. Satan here? You miserable coward!"

Privately, he thought, _*I-I nailed that! I nailed that so hard, it's a shame this is a dream!*_

In the next instant, Buu's expression twisted into utter fury, as he'd had enough of the odd man. With no further waiting, Chibi Buu lunged.

"Y-you want to go!" Satan asked, drwing back into a fighting pose. However, when heard Buu's battle cry his brave front quickly shattered. "E-even in a dream, this is scary!"

As he noticed, Buu getting closer and closer, Mr. Satan realized that Chibi Buu was really coming towards him with the intentions of killing him.

Majin Buu had just crossed the distance between he and Satan, when something blocked him from the inside and caused his aim at Mr. Satan to completely miss. Buu growled in rage.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mr. Satan apologized.

Buu tried to stomp Mr. Satan's head off, but his movement was oddly too sluggish and Mr. Satan was able to dodge that as well as he sat up with hands still clasped together.

"I-I didn't mean any harm! I just wanted to show off a little!" Satan continued to plead for his life, his hands pressed to gather prayer-like. "I was only playing around, and I couldn't help myself!"

"Satan dodged Buu's attack," Goku said, impressed. He then grinned. "Nice going! I got to give him more credit!"

"I'm so sorry!" Mr. Satan repeated as he risked opening his eyes. They slowly trailed up from Buu's small chest to his face, and the look of strained fury there nearly scared the World Champion out of his wits. Hastily, Mr. Satan backed away from the evil Majin.

Buu laughed insanely again and started to advance on his former friend some more. Chibi Buu was halfway to Mr. Satan, when that same strange force that had obstructed him from killing Mr. Satan a moment ago had made him freeze in place. An odd pain suddenly struck him, and he clasped his head with his hands, and started to shriek and squirm in pain and rage. Goku and Mr. Satan watched with bemusement as Buu thrashed around

"W-what is it? What in the world is wrong?" Mr. Satan asked, standing to his feet. A thought suddenly came to him. "C-could it be that he's in awe of my resolve?" A wild grin then curled his mouth, and suddenly all of his courage had returned to him full-force, as he had once again saw an opportunity to appear like a powerful warrior. "I did it, I did it! I did it! Satan laughed wildly after his words, acting as if he was sole responsible to the agony Buu seemed to be suffering in his head.

As Mr. Satan took advantage of the situation, like he always does, Goku couldn't believe his eyes.

_*W-why is this?* _Goku wondered. _*Why is it that ever since Mr. Satan appeared, Buu has been...? C-could it really be the result of Mr. Satan's resolve?*_

"K-kakarott!" Snapped out of his reverie, Goku instantly turned in the direction he'd the voice come from. He saw Vegeta trying to sit up again, glaring at him. "Don't just stand there, baka. Take this chance to power-up!"

"Yeah, you go it!" Goku agreed. Straining his body, Goku called for more power.

All of a sudden, Chibi Buu stopped thrashing about; he seemed to have overcome the pain that was agonizing him. Mr. Satan look of confidence quickly turned uneasy, especially when the Majin started swishing something around in his mouth.

"What is he up to?" Mr. Satan wondered nervously.

The champion got his answer in the form of Kid Buu spitting something into the air. It was green, and whether it was saliva or not, it didn't really matter, for as soon as it touched the ground, the whatever-it-was did something amazing. It morphed into Good Buu. The obese creature went rolling across the ground a few times before rolling to a stop, unconscious.

Everyone who was there in person or witnessing the battle transpire from afar were equally shocked after what just happened.

"B-B-Buu!" Mr. Satan exclaimed, thunderstruck.

"Buu!" Mr. Satan called, rushing to the side of the unconscious Majin at once. Buu was already stand there on the other said, trying to revive the chubby demon with licks to the face, but he didn't budge one bit. Mr. Satan couldn't believe it. That innocent monster he had ended up befriended somehow, had come back. When Evil Buu had absorbed him, he'd thought his friend had been gone for good.

"Buu! Hey! Come on!" he yelled, shaking the Majin. He got no response. "Snap out of it! Buu!"

No matter how many times he called down to the Fat Buu or shook him, he got no reaction out of him whatsoever.

As he stared down at the unconscious demon, a sudden realization.

"B-Buu...And you were such a nice guy, too..."

This dream was literally becoming a nightmare for him.. Tears swelled up in the corner of his eyes over the fact that he could actually lose Buu. Suddenly, the sadness Mr. Satan was feeling started to turn into rage. This was all the Evil Buu's fault. He started all this trouble.

"How dare you do this Buu!" he said angrily. "You'll pay! You're going to pay!" Standing to his feet, glared dangerously at Buu and pointed towards him, saying, "Hey you, brace yourself! I, Mr. Satan, will beat you to a pulp!"

In response to Mr. Satan's threat, cackled madly at the human; and now that he was completely evil, his laughter had taken on a darker quality.

"What? You don't think I can do it?" asked Mr. Satan. "You really want to fight that badly!"

Even as he said that, Evil Buu started to approach the World Champion.

"I'm warning you, y-you'd better quit!" Mr. Satan said, while trying to inject some confidence into his own voice. "To put it frankly, I'm too strong for you!"

Evil Buu got even closer.

Mr. Satan's confidence started to wane. As he looked back down at Good Majin Buu, he found inspiration, then said, "V-very well. If you want to get hurt that badly, I'll let you have it!"

Chibi Buu Majin Buu laughed nastily, when Mr. Satan took a fighting pose and started to circle him. Chibi Buu then moved towards him.

_*After all, it is my dream,* _he reminded himself. _*So it's only natural that I be the only one who wins.*_

With no further waiting, Mr. Satan went into a attack, unleashing a barrage of furious kicks and punches on Buu. None of them fazed them at all. Then Buu struck out with a punch of his own, and not even with his full strength, hitting Satan square in the face and hitting him in the nose. Mr. Satan went flying through the air before landing on the ground, where he squirmed around in agony, holding his bruised nose. Buu cackled at the human's discomfort.

Remembering that he was dealing with someone of pure evil here, Mr. Satan quickly scrambled away. Once he was at what he thought was a safe distance, he shouted, "W-why you...! Cut that out! Are you trying to get me really angry! Do you really want to be hurt that badly? If you want to apologize, now's the time!"

Chibi Buu laughed in response, then pounded his chest as he geared up to fight.

Mr. Satan started to back away, smiling, while the red bruise was still on his nose. "W-well, that's okay! Maybe I'll just let you off. Mm-hmm! I might have been partly in the wrong as well."

Chibi Buu launched into the air after Mr. Satan. Quickly, the bushy-haired fighter tried to get anywhere, but his feet were going nowhere. Chibi Buu had nearly reached him when...

A ki blast came out of nowhere, and would've hit him had his reflexes hadn't acted in time and he didn't stop himself. Chibi Buu spun around to see who had done that, expecting one of those men he'd been fighting earlier, but he'd gotten quite the surprise when he saw his Good side standing a good stance away from him, glaring at him with his nearsighted eyes and his large hand extended out from where he'd fired the blast of energy.

Goku and Mr. Satan let out cries of shock. While Vegeta said, "He's alive!"

Bee barked happily, as he ran in front of Buu. Noticing him, Good Buu smiled happily at him.

"B-Buu?" Mr. Satan stammered in disbelief. His friend was actually still alive?

Beside him, Chibi Buu growled at his Good side in disgust. Hearing him, Good Buu raised his head and glared at him.

"I hate you!" the chubby demon declared. "Don't pick on Satan!"

"Buu!" Mr. Satan said, about to cry from joy. "Y-you're alive?"

Vegeta watched the fight momentarily before he turned over and looked up at Goku.

"How long is this going to take, Kakarot!" he yelled up at him. "Still not yet!"

"I-I know!" Goku replied. "But it's strange...I've gathered up ki to just about my full power, b-but the stored up ki is starting to decrease.

"I-it what!" Vegeta replied, not liking the sound of that.

Meanwhile, the inevitable battle between Good and Evil Buu began in earnest. Evil Buu initially showed that he was clearly more powerful than his Good side, but Good Majin Buu showed his darker half why he wasn't a complete weakling either. At one point in the battle, Good Buu managed to blast half of Evil Buu's left side off, though that didn't last for long as he Evil Buu quickly regenerated.

"Kakarott, enough already!" Vegeta growled, as he stood back up on his feet. "That fatso isn't going to hold out that long! Aren't you done yet! Aren't you done gathering your ki!"

Goku swore repeatedly, highly annoyed at the predicament he was in.

"T-this isn't supposed to be happening," he said. "M-my power...My power is d-dropping off!"

Following those words, a bright light bathed over Goku momentarily. Then it receded and he was back in his base form.

"Kakarott!" Vegeta shouted in consternation. "Y-you've got to be kidding me!"

Goku stared down at his hands in disbelief. "T-this can't be...!"

Meanwhile, Chibi was chortling hilariously after literally beheading his Good side. But just like him, his Good side regenerated a new head (much to the delight of Mr. Satan, who cheered his friend on). As Good Buu turned around to look at Evil Buu, he gave his evil side a considering look.

"T-this is trouble," Fat Buu realized. "I really can't win."

"Looks like this has become the worst of all games," Vegeta observed as he stepped onto a cliff. Goku touched down behind Vegeta, breathing heavily with fatigue. Vegeta noticed him standing behind him out the corner of his eye, and scowled at him in annoyance.

"Y-you stupid bastard!" the Prince hissed. "You let all that pain I went through go to waste! What do you think you're doing, Kakarott!"

"S-sorry, Vegeta," Goku apologized after catching his breath. "D-danm it all! It was never any problem when I was dead...It appears that being Super Saiyajin Three in a living body eats up quite a bit of ki after all...We've had it. We really have had it."

"Hmph," Vegeta replied, but surprisingly he was smirking as well, while jerking his head toward the scene below.

Meanwhile, the Buus renewed their battle below. It didn't take too long for Chibi Buu to regain the upper hand against his Good half. So devoted to their friend, Mr. Satan and Bee had rushed in to help Good Buu when Chibi Buu had him trapped in a chokehold. That lasted until Evil Buu extended out his tentacle to slap Mr. Satan in the face, knocking the martial artist fighter away. Bee quickly rushed over to check on his human friend. In the mean time, Good Buu escaped from Evil Buu and turned the tables on him by slamming him into the ground with his own tentacle.

"I'll turn you into chocolate!" Good Buu declared. He fired a Henka Beam, but Chibi Buu quickly got out of the way and blasted Good Buu from behind. When the smoke cleared, Buu's head was gone again. Chibi Buu waved a reprimanding finger at his Good side.

"T-this is bad," Goku remarked bleakly as the fight went on. "He's going to be done in like that."

Vegeta watched the fighting Buus intently. In the next instant, inspiration struck him! _*Yes, this could work,* _he said with confidence.

"Kaioushins! Kosumo! Dende! Juuhachi-gou! Amara! Can you hear me!" he suddenly bellowed to the sky. "You've got to be watching what's happening on that ball, right!"

"Huh?" Goku replied, as he looked up at the prince curiously.

"Can you hear me? If you can hear my voice, then answer me!"

Everyone back on the unfamiliar planet could hear Vegeta. They exchanged curious glances.

"Yeah, we hear you," Rou Kaioushin said.

"All right!" Vegeta said, pleased. "Now then, go immediately to the restored Nameksei and scrounge up the Dragonballs."

_*I'll have to tell them what for...* _Dende's voice replied uncertainly.

"It's to save all our asses, that's what for!" Vegeta retorted. "But if you don't hurry, it'll be too late!"

"T-The Dragonballs?" Rou Kaioushin echoed. "We can't use them the Dragonballs in our affair."

"I'm sure Vegeta-san has some sort of idea!" Dende said. "Let's go!"

"Still, those things, you know..." Rou Kaioushin began.

"You idiot!" Amara snarled. "Are you still on that!"

"It's not just ours, it's everyone's affairs!" Juuhachi-gou said sharply.

"If we don't do everything in our power to save the universe, then we're no guilty than he is!" Kosumo added.

"With all due respect, sir, now is not the time to be particular!" Dende added, injecting more authority into his voice than he usually did.

"I-I get it. I get it!" Rou Kaioushin relented, seeing he was obviously outvoted. He then picked the crystal ball off the log. "Let's go to Planet Nameksei."

On that note, Kibitoshin and Kosumo grabbed onto the others, and they all vanished.

In the Kaioushin Realm, Vegeta sensed it.

"It would seem they've left," he said."

"Vegeta?" Goku called out dubiously. "What are you doing? It's still too soon to be calling the Dragonballs."

Vegeta sighed with surprising patience. Although, he figured he'd have to break down his sudden plan to his long-time rival in simplest terms.

"Tell me, Kakarott. How many times have you saved the world up until now?"

Goku was surprised by the question. "What? How many times? I don't know really."

"Just a ballpark."

Goku considered. "Well, gosh, half a dozen at least."

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's time that the Earth started defending for itself for once?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Dende and company had finally arrived on his old home world of Nameksei.

"So, this is Planet Nameksei?" Rou Kaioushin remarked.

"Y-yes...It's supposed to be..." Kibitoshin said uncertainly.

"This is my beautiful home world Planet Namek!" Dende said, nostalgia taking him over as he took in the scenery around him. "H-however, its..."

"What do you think, Dende?" asked an aged voice. "It's just the way it used to be, even on this planet!"

The group turned around, and saw a group of Namekseijin standing in front of some buildings. Dende let out a cry of elation.

Dende eagerly went to go greet his people, who welcomed him back warmly. Dende bowed to the new Elder.

"It has been so long! Elder-sama, I'm so glad you're looking well!"

"Dende, you're looking good too," Elder Muuri replied. "And you've become quite Kami-sama-like!"

"N-not at all!" Dende said modestly. "I'm still very inexperienced, and there is much I still have to study."

"Hey, you can catch up on the old times with your people later," Amara interjected. "But first things first; let's take care of what we came here to do."

"Yes, we don't have a moment to waste!" Rou Kaioushin added.

"T-that's right!" Dende then turned back to Elder Muuri. "Elder-sama, I have a favor to ask! Would you please gather the Dragonballs right away for me? We need the power of Polunga!"

The Elder's good-natured expression turned into a frown. "The Dragonballs, you say?"

Dende looked like a deer trapped between headlights, as the Elder turn his back on him and walked off.

"Has something happened to the Dragonballs?" Dende asked worriedly. He looked even more mystified by the look Elder Muuri tossed at him over his shoulder.

Then, in the next instant, the Elder's grim expression turned into a playful smile. As if on cue, the villagers thrust the Namkseijin Dragonballs into the air so they can be seen. Juuhachi-gou, Amara, and Kibitoshin stare at them in amazement.

Elder Muuri bowed to respectfully towards the Kaioushins and the Guardian of Cosmos.

"Kaioushin-sama and Kosumo-sama, we know the entire situation. Now, let us hurry!"

"Yeah, so you already had them gathered," Rou Kaioushin realized.

Kosumo bowed in gratitude towards them.

"Thank you very much!" Dende said gratefully.

* * *

Vegeta was watching the Buus battling it out once more, when suddenly-

_"Vegeta-san? Vegeta-san, can you hear me!" _Dende's voice called out telepathically. _"Vegeta-san! All seven Dragonballs have already been gathered!"_

"Good. Now then, summon Nameksei's Polunga immediately!" Vegeta instructed. "There are two wishes I want granted. First, I want the Earth that has been destroyed returned to the way it was! Next, I want everyone who has died since the day of that Tenkaichi Tournament except for the really bad ones to be brought back to life! Those two!"

A moment later, Dende's voice replied, _"R-right now? You want those wishes granted now?"_

"That's right!" Vegeta answered. "Right now!"

_"B-but, isn't that..." _Dended sounded very uncertain.

"Dende, it looks like Vegeta has some sort of idea," Goku spoke up. "Sorry to trouble you, but could you just do it?"

_"Y-yes, understood. So, what about the third wish?"_

"After those first two, anything's fine," Vegeta answered. "Do whatever you want!"

Goku drew up behind Vegeta.

"Vegeta, about that second wish...Wouldn't it have been easier to just ask for everyone who had been killed by Buu to be brought back to life?"

"Hmph! Idiot!" Vegeta retorted. "If I'd done that, then even Babidi and Dabura would be brought back to life. Besides, that way, the group that Amara and I killed at the tournament grounds would not be returned to life."

Goku stared at the Prince in surprise. "I'm very impressed, Vegeta. You really thought this plan out through."

"Oh, no! I remembered something, Vegeta-san!" Dende's voice suddenly exclaimed in panic. "Polunga can only bring one person back to life, per wish!"

There was an outcry of shock from Vegeta and Goku and the others over on New Nameksei.

"W-what!" Vegeta replied, shocked.

"N-now that he mentions it, that's right, Vegeta!" Goku confirmed.

*_This is awful!* _Dende thought. *_We can't wish back the Earth and its people like this!* _

Dende looked towards the elder when he started bellowing with laughter

"Such worries are unnecessary!" Elder Muuri told him. "After the incident with Furiiza, I had Polunga's wishes powered-up!"

"Does that mean he can do any number of people?" Dende asked hopefully.

"That's right."

"Great," Vegeta muttered under his breath, overhearing them. "Now, get started!"

"I'll handle this part," the Elder volunteered. Holding his hand out over the Dragonballs, he said, "IDE YO, POLUNGA!"

Instantly, the mystical Dragonballs started glowing simultaneously, soon becoming so bright that the stars couldn't be seen. The sky turned dark and lightning flashed across it. Golden beams shot out of the balls and into the dark air, fusing together and forming an enormous serpentine shape that was familiar to most there. In the blink of an in eye, Polunga, the Eternal Dragon of Nameksei hovered before everyone's eyes.

Not use to seeing Eternal Dragons emerge, Kibitoshin, Kosumo and Rou Kaioushin were quite taken aback by the appearance of Polunga; Rou Kaioushin was so surprised into fallen onto his backside. Both Juuhachi-gou and Amara were also thrown by the appearance of Nameksei's Eternal Dragon.

"T-this is Polunga?" Kibitoshin said in awe, once again finding himself in awe of something in the Lower Realm.

"So then, you may speak your wishes!" Polunga's voice boomed. "I shall grant thee any three wishes."

Elder smiled at Dende. "Okay, tell him the wishes! Do you still remember the Namek language?"

Dende, who had been gaping up at the impressive dragon deity, shook himself out of his daze.

"Yes," he replied. Then, in Namekseijin language, he asked, "Polunga! The faraway planet Earth has been destroyed, and has disappeared. Please, if you would, return it back to the way it was!"

Polunga responded back in Namekseijin language. But then he gave everyone the OK sign and said, "Okay! That is a simple task."

Dende smiled delightedly.

* * *

Far across the universe, where the remains of the beautiful Mother Earth once stood, the remains suddenly came together, proceeded by a blinding flash of golden light. When the light disappeared, there stood the blue planet Earth, looking as if it had been destroyed not too long ago.

* * *

"E-Earth really has returned back to..." Kibitoshin said in surprise, as the image of the blue world could be see on his ancestor's crystal ball.

Juuhachi-gou looked openly elated at the sight of the planet; even the seemingly always annoyed Amara looked pleased. Meanwhile, Dende cheered.

"We did it! We did it!"

"I have granted your first wish," Polunga said. "Now, the next one. You may speak your second wish."

Dende suddenly looked a bit concerned. "Now how do I go about saying this?" Deciding to give it a go, Dende translated his request in his native language as best as he could.

Polunga rumbled back in confusion.

"Oh," said Dende, looking chagrined. "Um, please restore the lives of all those people who have died since Madoshi Babidi arrived on the Earth...except for the most evil ones of course."

The Eternal Dragon paused for a long moment, as if conflicted. Then he rose even higher into the air, emitting electricity.

"Understood. However, thou must briefly wait," Polunga replied. "Their numbers are many, and it will be demanding."

"W-what's this?" Kibitoshin said in shock. "Is he even capable of this?"

* * *

"Kakarott, do you feel what I feel?" Vegeta asked Goku grimly, as they watched the fight between the Buus continue on. Although, it starting to look very one-sided as Good Buu could barely mount any offense.

"Yeah," Goku replied, nodding.

"That chubby Buu is beginning to lose power. With them both being Buus, he's taking damage." Vegeta clenched his fist, then he released his power in impatience. "Aren't you done yet, Dende! Haven't those wishes been granted!"

"Could you stop all that shouting, we can all hear you loud and clear!" Juuhachi-gou voice retorted.

"That's right," Rou Kaioushin added. "Polunga is going to a lot of trouble."

Just then, the halo circling his head, vanished. Rou Kaioushin let out a cry of elation

"Thank you for waiting," Polunga said. "Your second wish has been granted."

"He did it! He's done it!" Dende cheered. "Both the Earth and everyone it have been brought back to life, Vegeta-san!"

Both Amara and Juuhachi-gou exchanged pleased expressions upon hearing that.

"Is that right?" Vegeta said, feeling supremely pleased that his plan was coming together nicely so far. And most importantly, he was actually very pleased to know that his son was alive again

"So, Vegeta, now that that's done, what's the rest-aaaghhhh!" Goku cried out in shock, when he took a closer look at his rival. "Hey, Vegeta you've been brought back to life!"

"Huh?" Staring down himself, Vegeta was shocked to see what he found. The bruises and blood on his body and the rips and tears in his clothes were completely gone as if they'd never been there. He looked upward, he saw no halo hovering on his head as a dead reminder he was no longer among the living. But best of all, he could actually heart pumping in his chest.

"You know, only the good people were supposed to come back to life on that wish," Goku said. With a knowing smile, he said, "The verdict is in, Vegeta. You ain't so bad after all!"

Vegeta look of dumbfoundment shifted to habitual annoyance as he growled at the younger Saiyajin.

"Idiot," he hissed.

* * *

Back on Earth, the Earth people were having the same reactions as Vegeta upon realizing they were alive again.

"What the hell? I'm alive!" said one man.

"Yeah, we're alive all right," one woman said, though sounded a lot more resigned. "I mean look up, we still have the same old traffic jam."

"We're alive!"

"Hallelujah!"

"Yahoo!"

"Yes, Mama! We're saved!"

Beneath the cliffs where they had been deposited before the destruction of the Earth, Koji, Son Goten, Son Gohan, and Piccolo were standing alive and well, too. Although, they were rather confused.

"What's going on here?" Goten voiced the question everyone was wondering.

Up at the Lookout, the other family and friends of the Senshi were awakening as well, staring around in surprise.

"What's this?" squeaked a surprised Videl. "I was sure I was eaten by Majin Buu, and then I went to Heaven...!"

* * *

"I get it, Vegeta!" Goku said, slamming his right fist down on his left palm in realization. "You wanted to bring Gohan and Gotenji back to life so we can have them fight too, right."

"Wrong!" Vegeta replied. "If that's what I wanted, I would have just told Juuhachi-gou and Amara to come back here as Juumara."

"Then what then?" Goku said, puzzled.

There was a pause. During which, Evil Buu continually pummelled Good Buu with a ball made from his very arm. Vegeta's eyes suddenly narrowed.

"We're starting!" Vegeta decided. "Get ready!"

"Ready? For what?"

Vegeta looked the lower-class Saiyajin right in the eye. Then, he said, "Get ready to to create a Genki Dama!"

"A Genki Dama?" Goku eched, suddenly not feeling too impressed with Vegeta's plan. "That's your big idea? The Genki Dama? It didn't even work against Furiiza. What makes you think it will now."

"It will," Vegeta said, sounding mysteriously confident.

Something then occurred to Goku. "Ah, so that's what you meant by you wanted the Earth to start defending for itself. You want the people of Earth to supply the energy for the Genki Dama." Goku briefly looked back at the brawling Buus, and winced upon seeing how badly Evil Buu was beating up Good Buu. He turned back to Vegeta.

"We've got to do it now, Kakarott," Vegeta said. "You know what do."

"Yeah, but do you really think the people of Earth have that much energy?" Goku asked. When Vegeta looked directly at him with those fathomless black eyes, Goku quickly said, "Ugh. I'm not doubting your plan. It's just that Majin Buu's so damned powerful, that I fear even a Genki Dama created from the ki of the people of Earth wouldn't be enough."

"It'll be enough," Vegeta said assuredly, a half-smirk on his face. "I've learned not to underestimate the power of the human race. Plus, we won't take just a little bit, we'll take it right up to the maximum."

"The maximum, huh?" Goku concluded. He then smiled. "All right, let's do it."

Meanwhile...

"What is your third and final wish?" Polunga demanded impatiently.

"Um..." was all Dende could say, as he racked his brain for idea. The thing he could say was, "Please, wait one moment." Then, he said, "Hey, Vegeta-san?"

"What?"

"What would you like for the third wish to be? Polunga's growing impatient."

"I told you, already, the third wish doesn't matter to me," Vegeta answered. "Do whatever you want."

Dende was at a loss. What was the third wish to be? He looked toward the others to see if they had any ideas, but they didn't.

"Forget the wish, I would like to talk to Kaioushin," Vegeta said. "I want to talk to the people on Earth! Do something about it!"

Everyone on the other side of the crystal ball looked surprised at the request.

"B-by that, do you mean like the way Madoshi Babidi used magic to do so?" Kibitoshin asked.

He looked toward his ancestor.

"Don't look at me! That's not something I can do!"

Kibitoshin turned to Kosumo, who shook her head regrettably.

"That type of magic isn't my specialty," she said.

Kibitoshin balked in disappointment. Looking back up into the sky, he answered, "T-that will be impossible, I'm afraid."

"W-what!" Vegeta started in annoyance.

_"Leave it to me!" _a deep voice interjected.

"Who's that!" Vegeta demanded.

"T-that voice!" Goku said, smiling. "It's Kaiou-sama, right?"

"You guessed it!" Kaiou of the North answered. "Vegeta, for you to choose my Genki Dama as your finishing technique was nice! Okay, talk! Never mind Earth, you can talk to the whole universe!"

"That will help a lot," said Vegeta. Inwardly, he gathered himself. He wasn't the most diplomatic person; it would've been so much easier if Kakarott spoke to the people of Earth, while he was the one who could create the Genki Dama. Well, there was one way to find out about it.

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	61. The End To A Very Long Week

**Disclaimer: There's no need to go through with this, is it?**

**Author's Note: Since this is no longer the last chapter, I saved my final Author's Note for the Epilogue. I also explain why I decided to post an Epilogue for this story in the first place. **

**Chapter Sixty-One: The End To A Very Long Week**

* * *

Unaware of the highly important battle taking place on a world very, very far from their own, the revived people of Earth were going about their respective day-to-day routines; or at least trying to. This week had certainly been a strange one. First, the entire planet is put on high alert by the vengeful Madoshi Babidi and his enforcer, Majin Buu, as they rampaged all over the planet in search of their enemies. Then numerous pink lights rained down from the sky, killing them on contact. But suddenly, mysteriously, they were alive again.

Yes, this had been quite the strange week indeed, the strangest any of them had ever had. Everyone tried their best to pretend that it had all been just one crazy dream, with the adults being more successful at that than the children and quick to tell their children that they had in fact been dreaming whenever they tried to bring up what had happened. So far, pretending that none of it had happened had been working.

Until...

_"Do you hear me, people of the Earth!"_ a gruff voice called down from the sky.

All over the Earth people stopped whatever they were doing and stared upward in mingled surprise, joy amazement, curiosity, and fear. Some people actually knew that voice.

_*It's Papa!* _Koji enthused privately, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"I am speaking to you from some other place," Vegeta continued on. "I believe you already know, but most of you were killed by Majin Buu. However, through a mysterious power, I had you brought back to life. Your cities and houses and such should also be returned to just the way they were. However, this is by no means a dream!"

At that moment, Mr. Satan crawled out from behind the rock with Bee in his lap, gawping at Vegeta.

"N-not a dream?" he asked. Rising to his feet, he turned to Goku. "H-hey, what's he talking about?"

Goku turned to shushed him, then turned his back to the Budokai Champion again.

"He's talking to everyone on Earth."

Mr. Satan stared at the Saiyajin in incredulously, and he shook his head. "N-now I know this is a dream! H-hey, you guys! If you got time for this worthless spacing off, then help Buu out, would you?"

"We know!" Goku whispered assuredly. "Trust me! This is the best way!"

Mr. Satan was about to say something else, but he decided against it. Obviously these people knew what they were doing, so he knew it was best that he let them do their thing and not interrupt them.

"Right now, in a certain location, there is a warrior who is fighting Majin Buu in your place!" Vegeta went on. "However, to be honest, you could say that our odds are pretty bad. Majin Buu's strength far exceeds that of even Cell's! And so, we want to make use of your power! No more being slaughtered like sacrificial lambs. Raise your hands to the sky! Gather your energy together and defeat Buu! It will wear you out considerably, but don't worry! It will be just like after you run as hard as you can! Now, do it! Raise your hands!"

Feeling that was enough, Vegeta turned back to Goku.

"All right, Kakarott! Get started!" Vegeta commanded.

"Right!" Goku said, clenching his fist, his expression clearly speaking in volumes that he was behind the Prince's plan one-hundred percet. "Not bad, Vegeta! I've got to give you more credit!" So saying, Goku ripped off his torn orange gi top and tossed it aside, before he launched into the air like a rocket, his abrupt departure whipping up a circle of smoke and dust. When he thought he was high enough, he stopped, then raised his hands into the air. "Everyone! Share your genki with me! Please!"

* * *

"That's it! A Genki-Dama!" Gohan said in realization, clenching his fists. Without hesitation, he immediately raised his left hand to offer his genki.

"You got it, Papa!" Koji called, raising his right hand.

Beside him, Goten lifted both his hands.

Piccolo was smirking up at the sky. "Hmph! Vegeta! This stunt isn't like you!"

Nevertheless, he raised his hand as well.

* * *

Vegeta's plan was gradually coming to fruition, as the ki from the four Senshi arrived above Goku's outstretched hands, swirling and turning into a familiar blue-white ki sphere, which swiftly grew in size. The childlike Saiyajin cheered.

"Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes!" Goku said elatedly. "One Chou Genki Dama coming up!" _*And to think, this is all just from Gohan's group! Ha! This is awesome, all right!_

From afar, Vegeta observed the energy orb with gritted teeth. _*That's it! Great! More! More!* _

Aloud he said, "Come on! More of you, raise your hands!"

* * *

Everyone at the Tenkai heard him.

"Okay, Uncle! Understood!" Hoshi said, eagerly raising her hands.

Both Bulma and Yamucha looked down at their daughter, when they saw her raising her small, chubby arms. It extracted a giggle from the two parents. Following their daughter's lead, the couple raised their hands as well.

"L-like this?" Chichi asked, uncertainly lift her arms up.

One by one, everyone began raising their hands, too. Juunana-gou went last, smirking as he raised a hand in offering as well.

* * *

On New Nameksei, Juuhachi-gou, Amara and the others had their hands raised.

* * *

In response, the Genki Dama grew bigger.

"Woohoo!" Goku cheered. "This time the boost was from Kuririn and Bulma and those guys' ki! And there's some from Dende and the rest of those guys on Nameksei! Way to go, Vegeta!"

_*It's working!* _Vegeta thought satisfactorily. _*It's working!*_

_"This is strange!" _North Kaiou's voice suddenly invaded their minds, sounding troubled. "If they're getting power from all of the folks on Earth, then that Super Genki Dama has no business being only that large!"

As people either looked upward or down at a crystal ball, they realized that North Kaiou spoke the truth. The Genki-Dama was only semi-large, when it should've been much bigger.

Moments later, a ki sphere slammed into the ground of the Kaioushin's sacred sphere and expanded outward. Mr. Satan and Bee once again resembled passing tumbleweeds as they blew on by. Goku grunted as the shockwaves slammed into him. Determinedly, he tried to maintain his position, and as well as the genki he'd gotten so far.

"Damn it!" Vegeta swore, while trying to shield his face from the debris.

After long several moments, the light had finally died down. Thick smoke issued out from yet another cavity dented into once lovely terra-firma of the Kaioushin Realm. When the smoke slowly started to dissipate, Chibi Buu could be seen touching down in the center of the crater...while Good Buu couldn't be seen or felt at all.

"Didn't we make it in time?" Vegeta wondered, rising to his feet. While he hated them both, the Fat Buu had been useful and distracting his wicked counterpart while Kakarott attempted to create the Genki Dama with the energy fo the Earth's people. "Damn it all! We were so close!"

Back inside the crater, Chibi Buu was also disappointed that the other Buu was gone; if only because now he couldn't pummel him anymore. He boredly kick a pebble away. Oh, well, since the Fat Majin Buu wasn't around for him to play with, he guessed he go play with those men again...

Suddenly, Chibi Buu noticed some rubble starting to stir a few feet away. In the next instant, thick, pink glob shot up out of the earth...then another one, another one, and another one, surrounding the child-sized monster on all sides. The globs then shape-shifted into four Fat Buu's. Vegeta observed this all with a look of surprise on his face. So did Mr. Satan, who had just pulled both him and Bee onto the plateau where Vegeta was.

Chibi Buu looked more furious than scared at being outnumbered. One of the Fat Buus struck out at him, and the other ones joined in, and soon the child Majin was resembling a living punching bag.

Mr. Satan chortled at the hilarility of the scene. "Buu hasn't had it yet!"

"Good, we're still in the game," Vegeta murmured in relief. He must've been even more desparate than he thought, as he was actually glad to see that fatso still alive.

"Vegeta!" Goku called with sudden urgency, drawing Vegeta's gaze at one. "I'm not getting any more genki! It hasn't grown the slightest bit bigger since then! This probably still ain't enough to defeat Buu yet!"

"Now what?" Vegeta growled irritably. He started to grow annoyed when he looked up and saw that the Genki Dama was the same size it had been when he'd last looked at it. "Strange...it should have long since been completed! W-why isn't it?"

Subsequently, Vegeta's eyes widened when he started to hear voices back on the Earth...

_"Hey, he said to raise your hand!" _

_"What good will it do to do that?" _a male voice retorted.

"W-w-what's that? Why am I hearing these voices?" Mr. Satan asked, as he looked around this way and that.

_*Who the hell was that?*_

_*Not the most trustworthy voice I''ve ever heard!*_

"W-what did they say?" Vegeta said in disbelief, unable to believe what he was hearing. "I don't believe this!"

"Something I don't trust about this, you know?"

"Who do they think is going to raise their hands?

The two men then got back into the car and rode off.

"That was kind of creepy, huh?" said a girl, as her and her friend walked down the street eating ice cream cones.

"Let's go, let's go!" a boy was telling his mother, who was gazing off into space, pulling on her hand impatiently. "Hey, now, I'm hungry!"

That snapped the woman out of her daze. "Oh? I suppose so. How about we go get something to eat?" his mother offered. The boy and his siblings cheered at the prospect.

_*Don't fall for it!*_

_*It doesn't have anything to do with us!*_

Vegeta's patience waned and waned the more he listened to the conversations happening on Earth.

"T-those idiots!" he said furiously, his veins visible on his forehead.

Bee was about to agree with a bark but Mr. Satan hushed him.

"L-look here! Shh!" he said, waving a mildly scolding finger at the dog. "Be quiet!"

"Don't fall for it, you say! IT has nothing to do with us, you say!" Vegeta briefly lost control of his temper, and stomped the ground irritably. Mr. Satan and Bee instantly moved away, as the force of Vegeta's foot splintered the ground. "Damn it to hell! What sort of rubbish are you talking about!"

Flinging his head back, Vegeta howled at the Earth, "It's your Earth!" The vibration of his voice shaking the entire plateau. "How long are you going to act like a bunch of spoiled babies before you're finally satisfied!"

_*What's the matter with everyone on Earth?* _Goku was wondering. _*This Genki Dama isn't getting even the least bit more Genki!*_

Below, Chibi Buu had finally had enough of his large adversaries. He so incensed that his whole body turned red from anger. When the Fat Buus tried to pounce on him, he turned the tables on them and tied them into a huge tangle. Cackling victoriousy, Chibi Buu raised into the air and fired a deadly blast of ki down at the entrapped Buus.

"Buu!" Mr. Satan wailed worriedly.

When the smoke cleared, only one Fat Buu was left, battered and dented all over. But he wasn't down just yet, as he got back up to his feet. He knew if the Evil Buu won, he would hurt his friends, Satan and Bee, and he wouldn't let that happened while he was still breathing. Cupping ki in his hand, he fired another ki bolt at his counterpart. Chibi Buu only caught the beam and clapped into nothingness, however, Fat Buu didn't stop as he kept firing ki blast after ki blast at his Evil side. Each one was knocked away with ease. Fat Buu tried again, but the beam vanished in a poof in his hands before he could even fired it. He tried again and the same thing happened.

Chibi Buu snickered, realizing the other Buu was completely helpless now. Moving faster than his Good counterpart could follow, he rushed towards him and slammed into him hard with his right shoulder, burying him under more rubble. Mr. Satan and Bee were so panicked about Good Buu's situation, that they nearly fell over the cliff. Quickly, Mr. Satan crawled over and grabbed a hold of Vegeta's ankle.

"I-it's no use any more!" Mr. Satan cried. "Please! Help Buu out!"

Fat Buu dying was the least of Vegeta's concerned, as he was still worrying over the Genki Dama remaining the same size it had been for the past several minutes. But he had to do something.

*_Damn those stupid Earthlings!* _Vegeta seethed mentally. *_Maybe they're not worth saving after all! I don't want to ask any more!* _

Making his decision, Vegeta headed forward, with Mr. Satan still wrapped around his ankle.

"Let go, fool! I'm going!" he snarled before forcibly kicking Mr. Satan off him. He was about to charge in when...

_"Wait! Don't be hasty, Vegeta!" _Kaiou of the North shouted urgently. _"You fool! How can you ask like that! Don't give up, you've got to keep on persuading everyone on Earth! There's no other way for the universe way to be saved!"_

It was on Vegeta mind to tell North Kaiou to forget those stupid idiots on Earth, but then, a part of him realized that what the god said was true. Human beings did fear the unknown, he knew, and he talking to them all the way from another world probably did give them one heck of a fright.

"All right," he agreed. "I'll do it."

North Kaio gave a sigh of relief.

Taking a deep breath, Vegeta said in the gentlest tone he could, "Listen, Earthlings!...I'm saying this one more time! Stop your whining! All you have to do is raise your hands!"

"W-what are you doing, Vegeta!" Goku demanded, growing irritated. "Aside from our friends, just about nobody is giving up any ki, you know!"

"I know!" Vegeta snapped back. "But nobody there believes a damn thing I'm saying!"

But...

"Hey! Earthlings! Cooperate, right now! Do you want to be killed by Majin Buu again! This is not a dream, or anything! I am serious! Why don't you...why don't you lend us your power for a change!"

Sadly, Vegeta's plea felt on deaf ears once more, as the world had went had completely lapsed back into their normal routines before Babidi had even come to Earth to revive Majin Buu in the first place. People on the world below didn't know where that voice in the sky was coming from, but they didn't care. In fact, it didn't even exist in their minds, so they would continue to ignore it.

* * *

A cheerless silence hung over Planet Nameksei as they both witnessed and listened to Vegeta's failed attempts at reaching the Earthlings.

"What a grim situation," said the New Namekseijin Elder. "The people of Earth have completely closed their hearts off."

"There hasn't been one ounce of Genki gathered except from that of Goku-san's friends," Dende said, feeling very helpless right now.

Amara stomped a foot on the ground in frustration. "The Earthlings are spoiled little idiots, that's what it is! We're giving them a fighting chance to get revenge against the very person who took everything away from them, yet they refuse to get off their sorry asses and to do something about it! If that's the thanks Vegeta gets for wishing them back...then maybe they should've stayed dead!"

Some of the others were scandalized by her words.

"Do not hold it against the Earthlings, Amara," Kosumo pleaded, her expression sad. "Earthlings aren't like us. This is not a everyday thing for them; they live in their own world where things are always ordinary. When something out of the ordinary comes along, it frightens them and they try to run away from it. It's the very case here. The Earthlings refuse to believe in Majin Buu, because that means they would have face something that exceeds their boundaries of the ordinary."

"Juuhachi-gou-san?" Kibitoshin turned to the Jinzouningen. "You're his wife. Couldn't you ask him to use a more polite manner in his request?"

"You're kidding, right?" Juuhachi-gou replied incredulously. "Besides, he _did _ask as politely as he could. You won't get anything better than that from him. That's just the type of person he is."

Rou Kaioushin snorted. "Hmph. Why must that man be such a big lump of pride!"

During the pause that came after, everyone heard something almost to unreal to be true.

"P-Please..."

"W-What was that!" Rou Kaioushin asked in surprise.

"Brother...!" Amara said, wide-eyed.

"I'm asking you...please, raise your hands...!"

Everyone who knew Vegeta was speechless to hear the proud Saiyajin Prince actually beg someone for something. It truly attested to just how desperate he was to getting the people to listen to him.

"Vegeta...You're..." Goku said in surprise, while still trying to maintain the energy he already had collected for the Genki Dama.

"I...a-asking you to...please...raise your hands!...RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

* * *

Back on Earth, someone listened to Vegeta that time.

"Maybe he's right," said in a man in the coldest part of the world, sitting down a huge tank of milk. He stared down at his hands. "M-maybe I should raise them and see."

"H-Hey, don't do that!" his comrade advised. "It'll definitely make trouble!"

Ignoring him, the man gathered his courage and raised both his hands towards the sky.

"Don't do that, I said!"

Just then, the first man felt a tingling rush surge through him, then he screamed in panic as it something seemed to suck it right out of him straight through his hands.

"I-It couldn't be...! M-my power really was...!"

His friend looked at his friend in disbelief. Then he glared up at the sky.

"You liar!" he accused. "Th-This is the trap of the devil!"

* * *

_"E-Everyone, be careful! Sounds like it really will suck out your power!"_

_"It looks painful!"_

_"Everyone, be sure you don't raise your hands! Don't be fooled!"_

As Vegeta listened on the people's conspiracy theories on him, he temper started to flare again.

"You dirty bastards!" he hissed. "I won't ask any more! You should die!"

Just then, there was a jarring crash onto the ground. Mr. Satan cried out worriedly at the sight of seeing Buu get embedded into the side of a cliff.

Chibi Buu touched down in front of his counterpart. He stared at him for a moment, before his face split into another razor-blade smile. Cackling, he elongated out his hand to grab the other Buu by his forelock. Pulling him out of the Fat Buu dent, he briefly spun him around, before reeling him in and catching Fat Buu in the gut with a harsh punch. Evil Buu did that repeatedly, relishing in his counterpart's cries of pain.

"T-This is bad!" Vegeta said with dismay certainty. "The chubby one is on the verge of dying!"

"T-This is too awful!" Mr. Satan shouted. "Even for a dream, this is going too far!"

Chibi Buu studied his Good half for a second, before he dropped him unceremoniously onto the terrain. He landed with bone-jarring force, bounced off the edge of a cliff, and then went sliding down into a ravine. He gathered power in his hand, ready to kill his Good side once and for all.

"Me Buu, not you!" he said decisively.

"Damn, it's all over!" Vegeta realized grimly, feeling even more powerless than he already was.

"Damn it all, I can't take any more!" said Mr. Satan doggedly.

Leaping off the cliff, Mr. Satan quickly scooped up and rock and pitched it at the back of the evil Buu's head. While the rock didn't hurt Buu in the least, it did get the desired effect Satan had been going for, as Buu reabsorbed his ki. However, he had no idea what to do when Chibi Buu looked his way with his cold, dark-pink eyes. Mr. Satan froze in place.

"N-No, s-s-see, I...!" As fast as he could, Satan ran over to a split in the cliff Vegeta was standing on.

Chibi Buu turned to glare at him, but something else intercepted his attention. Looking upward, his expression turned into curiosity when he spotted Goku floating above him with the half-completed Genki Dama in his hands. The sight of him infuriated Chibi Buu.

"This ain't good!" Goku murmured in dread.

"That dirty bastard!" Vegeta hissed. "He's found us out!"

With a snarl of fury, Chibi Buu dematerialized at blurring speed.

"Kakarott! I'll do what I can to buy a little more time!" Vegeta offered. "You'll have to convince those idiots on Earth now!"

Afterwards, Vegeta vanished to intercept Buu.

"But Vegeta, you just came back to life," Goku yelled, "and ain't got sufficient ki yet, do you!"

Even as he said that, Vegeta reappeared between him and the approaching Evil Buu. Evil Buu stopped when he saw Vegeta was in his way. The look of fury transformed into smugness, then he started swinging his arm back and forth.

"M-Make fun of me, will you?" Vegeta growled.

As soon as he did, Buu plunged a fist hard into his stomach, causing him to fold over and spit out blood. Chibi Buu did it again, paining the prince even more. Goku could only stand there a small distance away, torn between wanting to stay there and hope he would gather more energy for the Genki Dama and wanting to go help Vegeta.

"Vegeta!

"K-Kakarott..." Vegeta managed, as Buu reared back to hit him again. "H-Hurry...C-Convince those idiots on Earth...!"

And Buu started hitting him again.

"Everybody on Earth!" Goku screamed. "I beg you! I beg you, share your genki with me! We need everybody's help! Raise your hands to the sky! Quickly!"

* * *

A young man of Indian heritage heard Goku's plea. More so out of the fact that he felt as if he knew the person.

"N-Noble father, that voice just now..."

His father chuckled knowingly. "Mm-hmm! We finally learn the identity behind these voices! It is Son Goku and friends! They fight for us, against Majin Buu!"

_"Can you hear my voice!" Goku called again. "Everyone! Share your genki with me!" _

"It is indeed Goku-san's voice!" the young man realized with certainty.

"Come now, Upa!" said Bora. "Hold your hand toward heaven!"

"Right!" Without even thinking twice about it, Upa mimicked his father as he raised his hands toward the sky.

"Come, the rest of you as well, quickly!" Bora ordered his people.

"Goku-san, please make use of our powers as well!" Upa said.

Well, if the leader and his son said it was okay, and that owner of the voice was a good man, then it just had to be. Fear gone, the people raised their hands as well, giving Goku the needed energy.

* * *

"Geez, what is it with him?" Yajirobe was complaining to Karin, hand raised. "From one thing to 'nother, that guy sure does tough it out, huh? Really, I gotta bow my head to him. Y-know?"

He glanced over his shoulder at Karin, who was perched on the railing, hand raised.

* * *

Somewhere in the frozen mountains, five eyes snapped open.

"Here my friend. Take all you need," said Tienshinhan, raising his hand towards the sky. Abeam him, Chaozu did the same. "We're counting on you, Son Goku! Be sure you defeat Majin Buu!"

* * *

In a snow-covered village, another familiar pair heard Goku's plea as well.

"It's Son Goku!" said Hachi-gou. "It's Son Goku! Suno!"

"You're right! That's definitely him!" agreed the now adult Suno. "That sure takes me back!"

Suno raised her hands without pause.

"What? That's Son Goku?"

"Yeah, from back then!"

Now realizing it had been an old friend asking them for help all this time, the same friend who had saved them so long ago, the rest of the villagers raised their hands, wanting to help the brave young warrior as much as he had them.

* * *

In a city, a truck rolled to a stop. The door opened and a young woman stepped out, wanting to help as she raised both her hands.

* * *

"Now, hurry! Hurry and raise your hands to the sky!" Goku called again.

* * *

"Hey, the voice on this guy sounds like he's trustworthy," a guy remarked.

"Don't be fooled by that voice!"

"It's definitely one of Buu's cronies!" opined a woman. "He's right! It's too suspicious! They still have yet to make their identities known to us!"

A few people agreed with that.

* * *

On Kaioushin Realm, Vegeta found himself crashing into the earth again at the hands of Chibi Buu. Touching down beside him, Buu sneered at the Saiyajin Prince before stepping on his stomach...then Buu remembered Goku in the sky, and turned towards him. With a deadly grin, the little Majin shot up in the air towards the Saiyajin.

"Dammit!" Goku swore. Then, there was a spike of energy, and Goku looked upward to see that it was the Genki Dama. While it had gotten bigger, nowhere nearly as big as he was hoping. "It looks hopeless! It just got a little bit bigger from that!"

Chibi Buu was nearly there, when a ki blast came out of nowhere and hit him in the back. Turning, unfazed, he looked back down to see that Vegeta had gotten back to his feet.

"No! I won't allow it!" Vegeta snarled. "I won't allow some pink, mutant freak to beat me!"

Chibi Buu glowered at the Saiyajin Prince, before he grinned down maliciously at him. In blurring speed, Buu crossed the distance between them and rammed his knee into Vegeta's face, sending him flying across the ground. Mounting Vegeta, Chibi Buu started delivering a snapping succession of lefts and rights.

Goku stared helpless down at Vegeta continued to get assaulted. "Please, hurry! Hurry and give me your genki!"

Below, Mr. Satan stared at Goku and listening to him apparently pleading for the people of Earth to help him, and at Vegeta being pummelled brutally by Kid Buu, unsure what to do. He wanted to help them out, but he didn't know what he could do. He certainly knew he couldn't beat Majin Buu. Sometimes he wished he never stole credit for beating Cell all those years ago, because even realized he tended to believe his own hype too much, and now it was all starting to catch up with him. What could he do?

"Why! Why doesn't anyone understand?" Goku demanded.

* * *

"T-This is crazy!" Gohan said. "Most of the people on Earth aren't sharing their Genki!"

"They've already been hammered by Babidi and Buu," Piccolo said. "Seeing it from the Earthling's side, it's only natural that they can't trust anyone. But...sometimes, for people who can't see the truth, they need help from the people who have witnessed it."

"What do you mean?" Gohan inquired.

"They can't see Goku or Vegeta, but they can see us," Piccolo explained. "Let's split up, and go tell whoever will believe in the trust of the voice. Do you follow me?"

"Um-hm," Gohan replied, nodding comprehendingly. "I get it now. Excellent idea."

"Yeah!" Koji and Goten agreed eagerly.

Without a moment's waste, the four flew off, with Piccolo and Gohan going off in separate directions, while Koji and Goten off together in the same direction. Gohan came upon a city first. He urgently tried to get people's attentions but it was too no prevail. Koji and Goten came upon a farm and tried to persuade the people there to help out with gathering energy, but one man had told them to beat it and one woman had even tried to bribe them with corn if they would move out of the way, with Goten actually taking one. When Piccolo had tried, people wouldn't even let him get close enough to persuade them, as one glance at him sent them running in the other direction.

* * *

Back on Kaioushin Realm, Chibi Buu had turned Vegeta into a man-made kick-ball, punting him all over the place. As Buu's assault went on, Mr. Satan drew himself further and further into the shadows of some rocks, not wanting to be noticed by the evil version of his best friend and have the same thing done to him that's being done to that poor guy in the blue outfit.

"Hey! Hurry it up, everybody!" Goku tried to beg again. "Don't you care what happens to Earth, and the rest of the universe, you stupid bastards?"

_"What was that? Stupid bastards?" _

_"That's a pretty insolent attitude from someone asking for something!" _

Mr. Satan heard them all. At first, he was shocked to hear people saying such things when these guys were risking their lives to save them, while they're living safely back on Earth. But as it went on, his shock progressively grew into anger. How dare they! How dare they turn their backs on these people and right when they needed them the most. It was rather rare that Mr. Satan get upset at all, but he was utterly livid right now, clenching his fists.

"W-Why, you all...!" Taking a firm step forward, he glowered up into the sky. "That's enough out of you all! Why don't you cooperate, already! Does this mean you will not listen to the request from me, Mr. Satan-sama?"

* * *

At a diner, a young boy suddenly rose up in the seat across from his mother, who was wiping her mouth off.

"Mommy, that was Mr. Satan's voice," said a boy, who'd been eating.

"Huh?" his mother replied.

"Say, that was Mr. Satan's voice just now, Mama!" the boy repeated.

"Mr. Satan?" the woman repeated. "I think you're right."

All over parts of the planet, people were starting to realize who just spoke to them just then.

"Satan?"

"Hey, that sure was Mr. Satan's voice!"

"What does that mean?"

"It was him all right."

"Dude, if that was not the champ, I'd be eating the hat I'm wearing."

"I believe that really was him."

"That really is him."

"It is him."

"He saved us from Cell, and now he's trying to save us from Buu."

* * *

As he listened to them, Mr. Satan quickly realized he could use this as his advantage.

"T-That's right!" Mr. Satan said, thrusting out the victory sign. "I wanted to keep it quiet, but it's no use, now that the secret is out! I will defeat Majin Buu for us. So could you folks quickly lend me your power!"

Goku listened to it all in amazement. Unable to believe what he was hearing or seeing.

Looking sidelong up at Goku, Mr. Satan said in a voice that only the Saiyajin could hear, "W-Well, we've got no choice, right? Unless I say it like that, they won't trust us, after all." Satan turned back to the fighting going on above him. "Besides, our first priority is to defeat Buu there, you know."

* * *

Back on Earth, the young boy who'd first heard Mr. Satan's voice went out to spread the word.

"That voice was Mr. Satan!"

Knowing that the World Champion wanted this, the people around him raised their hands to air, as did the boy. All over the world, people and not-so regular people started to participate, all lifting their hands toward the air, chanting Satan's name all the while.

* * *

"Huh?" Goku said, when he felt the energy sphere in his hand start to spike again. Looking up, he smiled in elation. "Here it comes, here it comes!"

Just then, Chibi Buu had sent Vegeta crash landing into the earth again. For the umpteenth time, Vegeta sat up, not caring if his body was throbbing. As his vision focused and he looked up, Vegeta witnessed as the Genki Dama expand. That brought a smile to his face. Lifting his head, he chuckled contemptuously at Buu, and Buu responds in kind by wrappng his forelock around Vegeta's body and spinning him around over and over again.

Chibi Buu was still unaware that the weapon for his destruction was getting closer and closer to being completed. However, as much fun as he was having with pummelling Vegeta into a bloody pulp, he really didn't care.

"Just a little bit more until there's a full tank!" Goku said. "Just a little bit longer! Hold out just a little bit longer, Vegeta!"

"Oi! That's still not enough!" Mr. Satan exclaimed. "Is there anyone who hasn't raised their hand yet!"

With a malicious grin, Chibi Buu kneed Vegeta in the gut, sending Vegeta bouncing on the earth briefly before he landed on his face. Vegeta lay there deathly still.

"I-It's no use...!" Goku said, dismayed, grimacing in defeat.

Before Goku could begin to fall into despair, he felt another spike- this one much larger than before. Looking up, he smiled gratefully as the Genki Dama blew up five times its size.

"It's done!" he cheered. "It's done!"

As Goku looked down, he saw a problem: Vegeta was in the way.

"Vegeta..." Goku trailed off, when it looked as if he wouldn't have to say anything, as he saw Vegeta struggling to get to his feet again. Vegeta got to his hands and knees, before he he collasped again. "Vegeta! Get out of the way, quickly!"

Struggling, Vegeta turned around to look back at the other Saiyajin. "Would you shut up!...I can't move my body!"

"Y-You what!" Goku asked dismayingly. "You've got to give it your all, and somehow get away from there, Vegeta! You'll be caught in the blast!"

"S-stupid bastard!" Vegeta growled after collapsing again from trying to get up. "D-Don't worry about me! Hurry up and get him, dammit!"

Listening in on their conversation, Chibi Buu realized what was going on, and grinned fiendishly up at Goku. Realization hit the Saiyajin. Walking over towards Vegeta, Chibi Buu deliberately stepped on the middle of Vegeta's back, then looked upward to sneer at Goku.

"D-Damn you!" Goku hissed.

"K-Kakarott!" Vegeta shouted. "If you are a Saiyajin, then don't hesitate!"

"Yeah, but...!"

Abruptly, Chibi Buu noticed that Goku was wide open, so he took advantage and fired a ki blast at him. When the smoke cleared, all it did was leave a hole in his weighted shirt. Grinning insanely, Chibi Buu unleashed an onslaught of ki blasts on Goku. But Goku didn't budge, withstanding the assault of Buu's attack. Moving would cause the Genki Dama to go away, and after all the trouble he went through just to make such a large Genki Dama, there was no way he was about to move now.

"Dammit!" Mr. Satan swore as he watched from afar.

Suddenly hearing a noise behind him, Mr. Satan turned around to see who it was, and was stunned to see who was standing behind him. His Buu was standing again, and he looked quite furious.

"Buu...!" he said, immediately starting to tear up. "Buu! Buu! Are you all right! Buu!"

Running to him, Mr. Satan got arms length of the Majin before he was casually backhanded out of the way, crashing on the ground. Sitting up, holding the part of his face where he was struck, he watched the chubby Majin Buu stalk off back into battle in total bewilderment.

"Buu...What on earth...?"

_*Goku!* _Kaiou of the North's voice shouted in the Saiyajin's mind. _"If you get finished off, then that Genki Dama you worked so hard for means nothing! Give it to him, Goku! Give it to him!"_

Turning it up a notch, the diminutive Majin crafted a semi-large ki ball then hurtled it at the Saiyajin. Instinctively, Goku dematerialized, then rematerialized. Goku glowered down at the grinning Majin.

"D-Damn it all!" Goku swore frustratedly.

In response, the wicked Buu crafted another semi-large ki ball.

"It's...no use!" Goku realized. "Vegeta, I'm sorry!"

Below, Chibi Buu made the ki sphere even larger. He was about to throw it when...his irate Good counterpart came from out of nowhere and slammed himself into him. Knocked off balance and took to the ground, Chibi Buu ended up intentionally flinging his energy attack into a hillside, which quickly went up in a detonation. In the meantime, Fat Buu resolutely pinned the evil Majin down on the ground. He suddenly looked over his shoulder at Satan.

"Satan!"

"Huh?" For a moment, Mr. Satan wondered if something wrong. But then he noticed his Buu looking down at Vegeta, and comprehension immediately came to him. "S-So that's it! All right!"

As fat Buu put his full weight down on Chibi Buu, Satan ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the unconscious Vegeta. Scooping him quickly and throwing him over his shoulder, Mr. Satan ran back towards safety. While that was happening, Chibi Buu finally blasted Buu off him and into a cliff, where it exploded. Mr. Satan cringed at the unassuring noise.

"I'm sorry, Buu!" he said regrettably. Looking back up at Goku, he shouted, "Damn it, man, do it! Put him away now!"

Goku smiled when he realized that Vegeta was no longer in his way, but Chibi Buu was.

"Nice work, Satan!" Goku cheered. "You really could be the world's savior!" Turning to Buu, he grimaced Burn in hell, Buu! CHOU GENKI DAMA HAAAAAAA!"

Free to attack, Goku at last fired the gigantic ki sphere towards the Majin. Momentarily, Chibi looked uneasy as he saw the attack coming his way, like the sun itself was slowly soaring towards him. Not about to back down, Chibi Buu fired a swift Kamehameha bolt at the oncoming energy attack. It only got absorbed. That worried Buu even more. Then the Chou Genki Dama had finally reached him.

"Go!" Goku shouted, willing his attack at Buu with his hands.

Chibi Buu instinctively reached his hands out to block it. The Genki Dama wouldn't yield; Buu dug trenches in the ground with his feet as he was pushed back and back and back...until, Buu managed to halt its progress.

"W-what!" Goku said in disbelief. "Dammit! Go, go!"

Goku kept trying to urge the energy ball forward, but it was Buu who wouldn't budge this time.

* * *

Chikyuu was a lot more quieter than it had been a little earlier, as sacrificing their genki to help their savor beat Majin Buu had left just about everyone completely drained. One who was still fresh was Piccolo as he flew through the air, hardly paying attention to what was going on around him. His thoughts were faraway from the planet and at the battlefield where Goku and Pure Majin Buu were battling on.

_*Do you hear me, Gohan?*_

_*Yes, Piccolo-san. Do you feel it? There's an incredible collision of ki happening! It's Buu and Father!*_

_*Yeah. Apparently, they're fighting in the Kaioushin Realm.*_

_*In that holy region?* _Gohan sounded surprised. _*So that's it. Ah, man. If it's in the Kaioushin Realm, then without Father or Kibito-san or Kosumo-san here on Earth, we can't go their to help out.*_

_*For the time being, let's go to the Heavenly Realm,* _Piccolo suggested. _*We should be able to feel Goku and the others' ki more strongly there!*_

_*Right!*_

_*Hey, squirts! You guys come too! Hurry!*_

Koji and Goten, who'd been snacking on some corn, nearly choked after being surprised by Piccolo's voice.

* * *

Goku growled as he pushed everything he had at the moment into the Genki Dama.

It still wouldn't budge.

"D-Dammit!" Goku swore. "T-This ain't just my power here! This is the genki of all Earthlings! T-That's why there ain't no way...no way I can allow us to LOSE!"

* * *

Back on Chikyuu, everyone turned around when saw moment at the edge of the courtyard.

"Oi, it's Piccolo!" Kuririn enthused.

As Chichi and Bulma looked around, they noticed another familiar face had shown up.

"Gohan!" they exclaimed at the same time.

"Gohan?" Videl echoed, wondering where he was. Then, she felt an hand on her shoulder, and turned around. There he was, smiling down at her.

"Hi, Videl," he said, as if the future of their world wasn't being decided faraway on another world.

Instead of hugging him like others thought she would, Videl started beating her tiny ineffective fists into his chest. "You idiot! I was so worried about you!"

"Gosh. I'm sorry, Videl," Gohan apologized, totally unfazed by her punches.

"Hey, I was the one who was really worried about him!" Chichi said, tears of joy and jealousy swelled in her eyes. "I'm his mother! I should be the one crying! How dare you!"

"Easy, Chichi," Bulma told her, while holding Bra. "Face it. Your son is growing up, and there's not a thing you can do about it."

Chichi stared at Bulma for a moment, then back at Gohan and Videl, and finally sighed in resignation. Chichi smiled. "I suppose you're right, Bulma. I've known all along he'd be a grown man one day, but..."

"Mama!" Looking down, Chichi saw her son Goten and the waterworks really started flowing, as she bent down to hug her son tightly.

"Oh, Goten! My precious Goten!" Chichi sobbed.

"Cousin Koji!" Hoshi squealed. She quickly rushed over to him and grabbed him in a bearhug.

"Oi, stop that! let me go!" Koji protested, trying hard to not smile.

"It's so good to see you again," Hoshi said, when she finally did release him. "Where have you both been? When I didn't see you or Goten I got worried and thought you went the other way!"

"Hey!" both boys protested.

"Just kidding, just kidding!"

He then looked around, and frowned when he didn't see what he was searching for. "Hey, where's Mama?"

"She's where the action is, of course," Juunana-gou said, smirking.

Standing alone, Piccolo frowned as he could sense a disturbance far away.

_*This is strange...* _he said, ignoring the bead of sweat on the side of his face. _*Goku's ki is getting weaker than it was earlier.*_

* * *

Still using Satan as support, Vegeta sensed that there was something wrong with his rival as well.

"W-what the hell is taking so long, Kakarott!" he barked.

"Damn! I can't muster enough power!"

Chibi Buu realized this as well and pressed in on the advantage, pushing back both the Genki Dama and Goku.

"Dende! Do something!" Vegeta yelled. "Raise Kakarott's strength!"

Hearing him, Dende quickly rose back up to his feet, knowing what he must do. The others looked at him expectantly.

Dende turned to Kibitoshin. "P-Please take me to where Goku-san is!"

Kibitoshin looked regrettably towards the ground. "I-I'm sorry, I've used up all my strength. I cannot instantaneously move until I recover it."

"Kosumo-sama?" Dende asked with desperation as he turned toward the Guardian of Cosmos.

Kosumo shook her head.

Still kneeling on the ground from where she dropped, after donating all of her energy, watched the scene in angry disbelief.

"Dammit...we were so close!" she hissed.

"I-It can't be!" Dende said dismay.

All of a sudden, Juuhachi-gou was struck with inspiration. Turning toward the Earth deity, she said, "Dende, I just thought of what we could use the third wish for. Since Goku needs more power, why not wish for his full power to return?"

"Yes, that'll do!" Dende agreed. "Great idea, Juuhachi-gou-san!"

Turning toward Polunga, in his Namekseijin tongue, Dende made the wish.

"If all I must do is return that person's level of strength to its usual level, then it is possible," Polunga replied.

Just as Goku was about give up, and was about to realize that there was no way he could overpower Majin Buu, when...

_"Goku-san!" _Dende's voice suddenly called down. _"With the third wish, Goku-san, your strength should be returning to normal!"_

Goku grinned elatedly at the announcement. It was true! Even now he could feel his power surging anew inside him.

"It's back! It's back!" he cheered. "Thank you, Dragonballs!"

With a cry of elation, Goku shifted into a Super Saiyajin. Now that his full strength was back, he sent more energy into the Genki Dama and sent it hurling back towards Chibi Buu. The Majin's eyes widened, as he saw the large sphere beam being flung back at him. He tried to block it once more and push it back, but slowly, the Genki Dama started to overpower him.

From the sidelines in the Kaioushin Realm, from Planet Nameksei, from Earth, and all the way into the Other World in Heaven and Hell, all watched in silent anticipation. No one even breathed.

"It looks like it's the end of the road, Buu. It's a darn shame, too," Goku said regrettably. "You are pretty awesome! You fought well, all by yourself!" Briefly, he remembered Buu's life since he was resurrected on Chikyuu, from their first battle, to Buu splitting into a Good and Evil, to Super Buu fighting Juumara and Gotenji, to Super Buu absorbing his and Vegeta's family and Piccolo, to him battling the transformed Buu with Vegeta as Vegetto, to their fights here in the Kaioushin Realm, to this very moment right now. "Now be reborn as a good person this time! I want to fight you again, one-on-one! I'll be waiting for you! And I will have gotten much better!" Smiling, Goku soluted him.

Nothing let to say, Goku put everything he had and then some into the Genki Dama. Buu started to growl in panic as he tried to push the Genki Dama back, but it soon swallowed him whole, and inside the sphere, Pure Majin Buu let out one final scream before he evaporated into many pieces. The Genki Dama then subsequently exploded...

After a long time, the dust had settled in the Kaioushin Realm. In the place where Chibi Buu met his demise, a 5-mile wide trench stretched ownward as far as the eye could see.

Goku powered back down, and hung over in exhaustion.

"It's over..." he murmured.

As he started to drop out of the sky, Vegeta took a couple of steps forward.

"Took you long enough..." he said, before promptly falling on his face.

Mr. Satan sat back gaping at it all. He couldn't believe it, that guy had actually done it. He'd actually defeated Majin Buu. While he was glad to see that little and malicious Buu dead, what did that mean for the Good Majin Buu? He didn't die, too did he?

Goku touched down in front of the motionless Vegeta. He smiled and gave him the thumbs up.

Vegeta lifted his head, and gave him the thumbs up.

Then, abruptly, both the Saiyajins erupted in laughter.

* * *

The destruction of Evil Majin Buu was celebrated throughout the universe and even in the afterlife.

On Planet Nameksei, Dende, Kibitoshin, Rou Kaioushin danced joyously. Kosumo held herself back, she was obviously pleased by what had happened. When the Namekseijin people started clapping and cheering, Amara and Juuhachi-gou had become swept up in the joyous mood as well, that they actually high-fived each other. But then they quickly realized what they were doing and turned their backs on one another, both blushing.

At Enma Realm, Enma Daiou, Urani Baba, and the oni workers whooped in joy.

In Heaven, the Kaious of the North and West celebrated.

In Hell, the two ogres Goku had met during his first death were the only ones who openly celebrated Goku's victory, although Babidi did as well secretly. Meanwhile, the enemies of the Z-Warriors sulked at seeing them survive yet another battle.

* * *

A short while later, Mr. Satan warily approached Goku, who was sitting atop of a rock, staring down at the ground; he looked weary, thoughtful, and content at the same time.

"D-did you get him?" Mr. Satan asked hopefully.

Goku didn't respond. He seemed to be too deeply lost in thought.

"Hey, don't keep me in the dark," Satan implored. "M-Majin Buu?"

Suddenly, Goku lifted his dark gaze to the World Martial Arts Champion, and he broke into a grin.

That made Mr. Satan smile, too. "So we did…we really did win!"

Remembering that he could speak to all of his fans back on the Earth, Mr. Satan hastily relayed the good news.

"People of Earth! Do you hear me? It's the combat sport world champion, Mr. Satan! With you people's cooperation, the dreadful Majin Buu has just now died! You can relax now! You have been released from terror!"

Hearing this back on the Earth, everywhere, all of Satan's fans erupted in thunderous cheers, loudly and proudly chanting their champion's name.

Up on the Lookout, everyone up at the Lookout were in good spirits as they celebrated Majin Buu's destruction and the return of peace; even Juunana-gou was even in a halfway loquacious mood with the people who his sister had called friends for the past seven years. Although, Videl stood away from the group, blushing and fuming in embarrassment that her father once again took credit for saving the world again.

* * *

Just then, Kibitoshin, Kosumo, and their groups had all reappeared in Kaioushin Realm. Goku and Mr. Satan, who'd been celebrating with Bee, looked up when they noticed the others.

"Goku-san!" Dende greeted cheerily, running to greet Goku. Juuhachi-gou and Amara walked towards them as well.

Kosumo stood slightly apart from the Kaioushins, who were both assessing the damage of their world.

"Even this heavy-duty Kaioushin Realm," Rou Kaioushin commented, "it seems, was quite ravaged."

"That may be, but it'll heal soon enough," Kibitoshin said sagely.

At that moment, a battered Vegeta walked up a incline before collapsing on the ground, though he made sure he landed in a sitting position; he had been mortified too many during this whole saga and wanted no more of it.

Abruptly, Vegeta's whole body lit up in a golden glow.

"Huh?" he said, perplexed. Looking up, he saw Dende standing over him, his hands outstretched over him and his face scrunched in concentration.

"Just relax, Vegeta," Dende said soothingly.

Gradually, all of the bruises and blood vanished off Vegeta. Feeling his strength returned, Vegeta stood, clenching his fists, feeling revitalized. As Dende left to go heal Goku, who had insisted that Dende heal Vegeta first due to the abuse he'd taken from Chibi Buu, Vegeta realized he was being watched. Looking sidelong, he found his mate standing by him, staring at him in usual mild disdain. Momentarily, her expression softened as she gave him a half-smirk.

"So, this was all because of you?" she asked. "I must say, I'm impressed, Vegeta. I never thought you of all people would come up with such an idea."

"Hmph," Vegeta replied loftily, while smiling a very faint smile at the compliment.

Just then, Amara showed up. She gave Vegeta a half amused, half disdainful look.

"Wow, you really got the tar beaten out of you, brother," she remarked. "Even Kaosu hadn't beat you up that bad."

"It's a good thing for you that you didn't have to fight him," Vegeta countered. "With you being so weaker than Kakarott and I, he would've beaten you far worse than he had us."

Amara's eyes narrowed as she responded with an unladylike snort

Shortly, the three joined the others.

"I can't believe it," Kibitoshin said, "but you did it, Goku! Majin Buu is finally gone for good! I never thought I'd live to see the day that Buu would be destroyed."

Goku chuckled. Seeing as how Kibitoshin was so happy about Buu's destruction, he thought it best not to tell him that he wished Buu to come back again someday. Well, at least not until that day came.

"Yeah, you really stuck it to that little sucker!" Rou Kaioushin enthused. "There were lots of times where I thought you had blew it, but you came through in the end, Goku."

As the Kaioushins expressed their gratitude toward Goku, neither they nor the Saiyajin warrior noticed the Saiyajin Prince glaring a the scene both bitterly and jealously. Dammit, it had been his idea that had caused the destruction of Kid Majin Buu, not Kakarott's! And yet, once again, the younger Saiyajin was taking credit for being the one to save the day.

"But it was because of Vegeta's plan that we won," said Juuhachi-gou, as if sensing her husband's thoughts.

Vegeta briefly looked at her with a look of wonder, before his habitual scowl slid back on his face as a shield before anyone could see it.

"Juuhachi-gou's right. Actually Kibitoshin and Elder Kaioushin-sama, you should really be thanking Vegeta," Goku agreed. "After all, he was the one who'd came up with the idea to get the people of Earth to create a Genki Dama to destroy Majin Buu. So, the credit should really go all to him."

"Why, of course," Kibitoshin agreed, nodding gratefully at the Saiyajin Prince. "Please forgive my oversight, Vegeta. Thank you so much for your help."

"Hn," Vegeta grunted in reply. Though, secretly, his pride had been mollified after getting the recognition he deserved.

"That was quite the battle, I must say," Amara said. "Too bad I couldn't have been in it; I mean even Satan got to be here."

"And hey, we couldn't have done this without Mr. Satan's help either," Goku said. "It's good that people of Earth love him so much. Otherwise, I don't think we would've been able to gather all the power we needed to defeat Buu. He really does deserve the title as Earth's Greatest Hero."

"I still think those Earthlings are a bunch of idiots," Vegeta commented gruffly.

A few feet from them, Mr. Satan and Bee hadn't heard what the others were saying as they were lost in playing and celebrating. Suddenly, something in the air caught Bay's nose, and he leaped out of Mr. Satan's arms in search of it.

"Huh? Hey, where are you going, boy?" Mr. Satan asked worriedly, as he trailed after the puppy.

Bee's exploration ended near a pile of rubble. Mr. Satan blinked down at it curiously. Bay then turned towards Mr. Satan and started to bark urgently.

"What is it? Is there something down there?"

Bee barked even more urgently. When Mr. Satan didn't do anything, Bee started digging. Thinking whatever it was underneath there must be quite important, Mr. Satan helped the puppy pull the rocks off. Mr. Satan had taken a few out, when all of a sudden...

"Ah! Hey, everyone! Come over here!" he shouted urgently.

"What do you suppose that idiot's got himself into this time?" Amara said contemptuously.

"It sounded it important," Kosumo commented. "We should go see."

With everyone more or less agreeing, everybody went over to see what Mr. Satan had found. When they saw it, everyone stopped and stared.

"I don't believe it!" said Vegeta.

"Is that really...?" Kibitoshin tried to say, but was too stumped to do so.

Right before their eyes, half-buried under debris, was the other Majin Buu. Bee was licking Good Buu's face, trying to revive him but the Fat Majin Buu remained unconscious, though still alive.

"H-he's still alive!" Mr. Satan looked toward Dende hopefully. "P-please, heal him! You can heal him, right?"

Dende openly balked at the request. He turned to Goku to see what he wanted to do, who watched with a oddly calm expression.

"Fool! Have you gone insane?" Vegeta barked. Extending his hand out toward Buu, he shouted. "You have to be joking! Get out of the way now! This isn't over until he's gone for good!"

"What!" Mr. Satan squawked in shock. "S-stop! Please stop! H-he's not all that bad a guy! He was just ordered around by bad people, that's why he did what he did!"

"Why, you...Don't you get it! What do you intend to do if he gives rise to that devastating Buu again!"

"I...I don't know," Mr. Satan admitted.

"Next time for sure, the world will probably come to an end!" Vegeta was all but screaming at this point. "Killing him now while we can is for the best! You got that!"

"I agree with Vegeta," said Amara. "As long as Buu is around, there's always a chance his Evil side could show back up. I think we should get rid of him."

"But he wouldn't have blown his stack if that idiot shot this dog!" Mr. Satan countered, pointing at Bee. "P-Please, I'll take full responsibility for Majin Buu. He can stay at my house with m! I'll keep him under my protection!"

"Protection? Don't make me laugh!" Vegeta scorned. "With your power, what the hell can you do? This is the last time I will tell you to move! Or do you want to die with him?"

Mr. Satan laid protectively over Majin Buu, not knowing what else to do. No matter how much he begged to Vegeta, he wouldn't back off. Beside him and Buu, Bee barked angrily at Vegeta.

Everyone who hadn't said anything watched the scene with differing expressions.

"Pathetic fool!" Vegeta hissed, shaking with strain, as it was taking all his effort to not go back to his killing ways and just kill Mr. Satan and the dog along with Majin Buu to settle the problem.

Then, in the space of a moment, Vegeta's eyes widened as he suddenly found himself no longer looking down at Mr. Satan trying to protect Buu, but at a short, bald warrior holding an unconscious woman in his arms. In response to him saving her, he had said similiar words to him: _"You're pathetic." _

Afterwards, everyone looked at Vegeta in equal wonderment when he abruptly lowered his hand and backed down. He appeared very unhappy at doing it, as his face was curled in a savage grimace.

"Vegeta..." Amara said, staring at her brother in shock.

Juuhachi-gou looked at her husband in quiet astoundment, wondering what just came over him.

"I think this is for the best, anyway," Goku suddenly said. Everyone looked to him. "Dende, I want you to heal Majin Buu. We owe this to both Buu and Satan. Had it not been for the two of them, we would have all had it. Besides that, if the worst happens, we can just fight Buu again. Let's train so that one-on-one, we won't lose to him next time!"

"A-Are you sure, Goku?" Kibitoshin asked, having mixed emotions with the whole idea; due to his past with Majin Buu, a part of him didn't feel easy about Majin Buu being alive. But... "The people of Earth don't know what happened here. Their fear of Buu could start a worldwide panic if he shows back up there."

"No problem," Goku said cheerily. "We'll just keep Majin Buu hidden away for the first six months, then we'll use the Dragonballs to erase the Earthlings' memories of all the evil he'd done."

"Wish it all away, huh?" Rou Kaioushin asked resignedly.

"Yes, that should work perfectly," Kosumo agreed, smiling.

"I can't believe this is even happening," Amara muttered, shaking her head. "Although...I guess it would be better if Buu was own our side, rather than our enemy."

"Arigatou! Oh, thank you all so much," Mr. Satan said with eternal gratitude, bowing his head at Goku. "I'll never forget this."

"Well, then, now that that's taken care of," Goku said, as Dende ran over to revive the Majin, "after Majin Buu's healed, let's head back to Earth for a bite to eat. I don't know about you all, but I'm starving!"

* * *

On Earth, everyone at God's Palace were so engrossed in the celebration of Majin Buu's defeat, that even those among the group who had ki-sensing abilities never sensed group of familiar faces that materialized near the back of the palace.

"Thanks for everything!" Goku and Dende were saying to Kibitoshin and Kosumo. The two waved goodbye before they vanished back to their own worlds.

Around front, everyone had stopped talking when they became aware of some sounds around back. Abruptly, Vegeta and the others walked out into view.

"Hey, guys!" "Hi everyone!" Goku and Dende said at the same time in greeting.

There was a communal cry of joy, and everyone went over to greet their returning family and friends.

"Amara!" "Kaasan!" Kuririn and Hoshi exclaimed happily, as they drew up in front of the Saiyajin Princess with and Muten Roshi and Oolong. While she kept it well-hidden behind her accustomed mask of disdain, Amara was actually quite happy to see her family. Well, at least two of them anyway.

"Mama!" Koji exclaimed, running over to his parents. Smiling, Juuhachi-gou patted Koji on the head with open affection. Looking around her, Koji broke out in another huge smile at the figure standing only a few inches away. "Papa!" He rushed over and grabbed his father's hand, overjoyed at seeing him again.

"Yes, son?" Vegeta said. And if he could've looked into his father's mind just then, he wouldn't known he was happy to see him, too. Though, as she watched them, Juuhachi-gou didn't need to do that as she already knew.

Suddenly, Juunana-gou appeared before his sister and her family, who looked up at him.

"I should come hang out with you guys more often!" he said, grinning wildly. "It was fun-except the part about dying again."

Juuhachi-gou rolled her eyes at her brother. "Such a typical response from you, brother." Though she smiled as she said that.

"Oh, Juuhachi-gou-chan!" Bulma exclaimed, as she rushed over to hug the other woman. "It's so good to see you again, and that you made it back all right. And even you, too, Vegeta-san!"

"Idiot," Vegeta growled. Bulma laughed.

As Dende was reuniting with Mr. Popo and Piccolo, and Goku was doing the same with his family and Bulma and Yamucha, it was occurring to Videl that her father wasn't there. Just then, the World Champion came out from behind the same trees the others had come from; Videl saw him and let out a noise of joy.

"Papa!"

"Baby!" Mr. Satan rushed over to hug his daughter. Bee came running out from behind the trees to turn around the father and daughter, wanting to get in on the family reunion. It was a second later, when Mr. Satan realized he forgot something. "Oh, yeah, Videl. I have a surprise for you."

He pointed over his right shoulder, and Majin Buu appeared with a big smile on his face. Videl cried out in horrified surprise and ran away. Wondering what caused her to panic, the others looked as well, and upon seeing Majin Buu, who stuck his tongue out at them in greeting, his responses ranged from screams of terror to some of the other warriors drawing into fighting stances.

"Whoa! Calm down, everybody!" Goku pleaded.

"It's all right, son," Vegeta said to Koji, who looked ready to attack the Majin, had Juuhachi-gou not kept him in place by putting a hand on his shoulder. "He's our...guest."

"Yes, he's on our side, now," Juuhachi-gou said.

"He's on our side?" Chichi asked dubiously. "Really?"

"Yes, somehow we managed to make an ally out of the terror of the universe, Majin Buu," said Amara ironically.

Bulma suddenly laughed. "Oh, Son-kun. Only you could make a friend out of our worst enemy ever," she said.

Goku laughed back at her. "But it's true. Majin Buu is a good guy now." The Saiyajin suddenly looked a bit earnest, as he took in the sight of his family and friends and new friends standing before him. "Wow, I've been gone for such a long time, haven't I? Well, sorry about that, and it's about to change. Thanks to Grand Kaioushin-sama, I was granted a new life. I'm back for good now, you guys."

Chichi gasped at her husband's announcement. "Really, Goku-sa? You really mean the four us are going to live like a real family now in our little house?"

"Well, I was hoping we can," Goku replied, smiling, "if you guys think can put up with me that is."

That did it, as Chichi burst into tears and hugged her husband, who hugged her back in his old clumsy fashion. Gohan smiled at his parents, as it had been so long since he'd seen his mother so happy as she was now. He was glad for her- no, he was glad for them both.

* * *

Late into the night, Juuhachi-gou was awakened. Awakened by what- she wasn't sure. Propping herself up on her elbows, brows furrowed together, she didn't sense anything wrong. She could still sense Koji's ki still in his room, undoubtedly sound asleep, and she was sure her brother was also asleep in the guest room she had put him in for the night.

That had been the agreement between Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou after she had invited him over for dinner. He would stay for tonight, but he still wasn't ready to make any long term decisions, and Juuhachi-gou accepted that. If he wanted to stay, he was more than welcome to. If he didn't, so be it. She wouldn't keep bothering him about it. It was enough for the blonde woman that he was back in her life again.

A smile tugged at her lips as she remembered her twin's reaction when he came home with her and her family earlier that day.

_"T-this is where you guys live?" Juunana-gou had asked, gaping up at the luxurious manor; his dark eyebrows were raised so high that they nearly vanished into his hair. Looking toward his sister, who was watching him in smug amusement, he added, "Yesterday when you were telling me you had plenty of room, I didn't think it would be **this **much!"_

It was a rarity to see her usually brash twin truly stupefied, and in that moment she had been amused by it to no end. Juunana-gou and her son had spent the day bonding in Koji's 'Entertainment Room' over his video games, acting more like brothers rather than uncle and nephew. Juunana-gou, who was normally pretty good at games, was dumbfounded once more when he was repeatedly beaten easy by his sister's six-year-old son. But Juunana-gou was determined and had vowed to beat his foe, with Koji playfully responding to bring it on. The two probably would have been in there all day had Juuhachi-gou not summoned them for dinner. For her, it really was good to see them take so well to each other.

When she had asked Vegeta how he had felt about her brother being there, her mate had told her he was fine just as long as he didn't get in his way. Her brows knitted together as she remembered Juunana-gou's initial hesitation at living with her because of Vegeta. She wondered if they ever could get along, then concluded probably not. After all, she and Vegeta's sister weren't exactly friends. How ironic, they both had siblings the other wasn't fond of.

Speaking of Vegeta...looking over and down beside her, she saw her surly Prince was still sleeping soundly. No doubt he was exhausted from all that lost time they had made up earlier, she thought with a wicked smirk. And also tired from the final big battle with Majin Buu.

Her features turned serious as she thought about the battle with the powerful Majin. What was supposed to just be a simple day of competing at the Tenkaichi Tournament had ended up turning into three days of hell for everyone. She had been drained by all the fighting as well, though in a more emotional sense. Buu had really put her and the others through the wringer, and while she couldn't speak for the others, and she didn't want to have to endure anything like that again any time soon- or ever again, if she had her way.

Juuhachi-gou really agreed with Amara. It was definitely better to have Majin Buu as an ally than an enemy.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time. The most significant occurrence, however, had been...Vegeta dying. She remembered the bastard he had been seven years ago- the one she had hated with all her being- and it still astounded her that the proud warrior had given up his own life for someone else. Even though it was for her and their son as he had never seemed to care about them before. Nonetheless, now she perfectly understood why he had done it. It was why she had put herself through the aggravation of learning to fuse with Amara. Although, she didn't plan on telling him that. Let him figure it out on his own.

Going from hated enemies to this moment right now...It really was amazing how one's fate could be changed so much with just a single twist.

Almost absently, she reached out to touch his face, quietly marvelling over how peaceful he looked while he was asleep, compared to the grouch he was when he was wide awake. Suddenly, Vegeta's lips closed around her finger and Juuhachi-gou gasped softly in surprise, blushed. Her face turned a slight shade brighter when his eyes opened and he looked directly at her, smiling around her finger in amusement. As soon as he relinquished his hold, she quickly pulled it away, glaring down at him accusingly.

"Ready for more, are we?" he asked. "You certainly have been greedy tonight."

Juuhachi-gou "hmphed" and looked away in irritation, mainly to hide the scarlet staining her face.

"Just go back to sleep, Vegeta. Besides..." She let her words hang for a moment. Then she turned back to Vegeta with a crooked smile. "An old man like you couldn't possibly have any more energy for another round."

Vegeta's eyes darkened. "Is that a challenge?"

Juuhachi-gou lowered her face to his until they were just mere inches apart now.

"And what if it is?" she purred.

His reply was instantaneous. In a matter of seconds, Vegeta had Juuhachi-gou under him again, his lips on hers, his tongue clashing fervidly against hers as that all-too familiar desire quickly built between them...The very same fire that had first brought them together that night out on the balcony seven years ago. When Vegeta pulled back, he grinned down at his woman.

"Challenge accepted."

* * *

**To Be Continued**


	62. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: All DB/DBZ characters are the property of Akira Toriyama while I own all the original characters. **

**Author's Note: A bit of this Epilogue is inspired by the Fullmetal Alchemists Brotherhood Epilogue. Hope you guys like it, and thanks again to everyone who gave my story a shot. **

**Epilogue**

* * *

A picture is said to speak a thousand words, and if the pictures within a certain capsule manor could talk, they would have that much to say. Years ago, photos were almost nonexistent inside this home as the people who lived there didn't care for taking family photos or even casual ones. The idea of capturing any moment together would have been considered complete nonsense and a waste of time. At least, that was the original belief of the man and woman of the house. But like with most things, this would change with time.

Now, quite a few pictures sat in the living room, although three were more significant than all the rest.

For instance, like the one that was perched on the small wooden table at the left end of the long couch. It was actually the very first picture the family had taken together, albeit unintentionally. Clutched within a brown frame was the image of the mother holding her young son's hand, smiling down at him faintly yet warmly. Behind them stood the father, his features stony as he faced the other direction.

Another notable picture sat in the center of the room on the coffee table. It was another, though recently taken, family photo, this one placed inside a silver frame. They were standing outside. The mother, who's hair now reached down to the middle of her back, stood between her brother and now near-grown son, all laughing as the father had a difficult time trying to hold his hyper four-year-old daughter.

But the most noteworthy picture of all sat on the table by the wall next to the phone, framed in gold. This was a photo of the husband and wife from a decade ago, both obviously in a good mood. In this picture, the man stood in his accustomed pose with his arms crossed, wearing his signature smirk. His wife stood beside him, her arm resting across his left shoulder, smiling openly. It a very rare sight to behold indeed.

Suddenly, a now sixteen-year-old Koji drew up in front of the very table, smiling in accomplishment.

"There you are!" he enthused, referring down to the car keys sitting before the picture.

"Koji, have you found them yet?" Juuhachi-gou's impatient voice called from outside. "We're going to be late for the tournament!"

"Got 'em, Mom!" Koji yelled back, as he reached down and scooped the keys up. Wasting no more time now that he had what he was looking for, the teenaged half-Saiyajin dashed out the house, pulling the door closed behind him.

* * *

**OWARI**


End file.
